uniform is it Naval Reserve

[hetben]

Is this uniform Naval Reserve

[Romilly]

It looks like it to me hetben.

I have my late Father’s cap badge, and it looks identical to me. (He was a Lieutenant in the RNR during WW1).

A sure way of telling though is of looking at the braid on the sleeves of the uniform jacket. If they’re straight, it’s Royal Navy, if they’re wavy, it’s RNR. Hence the nickname, ‘Wavy Navy’.

Romilly.

[MaxD]

Certainly the sleeve rings are the best indicator as Romilly says.  The sleeve stripes for RNVR are the wavy ones, the RNR stripes are best described as looking like links in a chain.  Both pictured here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Reserve#Second_World_War

In the Great War era the RNR and RNVR had the letters RNR or RNV above the anchor on the cap badge but this was, I believe, discontinued later, I don't detect the letters on this badge.

Do you have a name for him?

MaxD

[hetben]

His name was Ernest Albert White born in St Osyth in 1883 he was my cousins grandfather

[MaxD]

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7722428

It is the only Royal Navy record (RNVR in this case) for a man with those names.  It is sparse in the extreme! He served at North Foreland in Kent, as officer in charge of a wireless station.

As the 1911 census shows a man in St Osyth as a wireless operator this may well be him.  He has the British War medal indicating he did not serve overseas

RNR men were almost all from the Merchant Navy, RNVR from other backgrounds.

The term "reserve" is a bit misleading in war time.  It indicates simply that they were not regular RN and in most cases served on a wartime only engagement.

MaxD

[hetben]

Thank you for that information my cousin will be pleased