ROYAL INDIAN ARMY SERVICE CORP original

A nice scarce officer's  Royal Indian Army Service corp Cap badge and one collar bagde. With related buttons, Cpts jacket Epauletes with the RIASC brass titles

Please note I did not cut these epaulettes off the tunic ( sacrilige I know )

The origin of the corps go all the way back to 1760 when a Commissariat used to exist in the administrative component of the armies three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay. By 1878 the separate Commissariats were amalgamated into a single entity and then in 1901 it was renamed the Supply and Transport Corps.

During the First World War the corps became a permanent component of the British Indian Army and was renamed the Indian Army Service Corps in 1923. Then in 1935 the corps was granted the 'Royal' prefix and became known as Royal Indian Army Service Corps (RIASC).

After India gained independence in 1947, the corps underwent further expansion and by 1948 Indian Catering Corps and Indian Army Corps of Clerks were amalgamated into the corps. The Food Testing Laboratories were also placed under the control of RIASC. Finaly on 8 December 1950, after India became a republic, the corps dropped the use of the 'Royal' prefix and was once again renamed the Indian Army Service Corps