Re; Phillip Rayner,
Firstly thank you for your kind, generous and encouraging compliments!
In answer to yur querries,
You may be correct about the Pipe Sergeant, I can't say for sure if they was offically called Pipe Sergeant, but I used the Osprey book Brittish Insignia of WW1 penned by Mike Chappell the Historian and illustrator. He paints a picture that is Illustrates a Sergeant with pipes and he details it as a Pipe Sergeant. So I can only take Mike Chappells word as gospel. Given his knowledge and reputation as a Great War authority.
Also with regards to the pleated pockets there appears to be 2 types of service dress one with pleated pockets and one without. The cut of the tunic appears to be the same apart form the pocket detail. I have attached a couple of images to show.
The date of the introduction i'm unsure about, but Mike Chappell paints a Seaforth Stretcher bearer wearing the plain pockets on the eve of The Somme.
i hope this answers some of your questions.
Carl
