Article 3 - Thomas Fattorini, Bolton

Badges with this mark: Thomas Fattorini Bolton, are typically associated with badges made for the WW1 home front, special constables and the Volunteer Training Corps (VTC). VTC badges made by this company have been found with both named sliders and unnamed but with flat connector style loops. The final photograph shows the style of the fake maker's mark which is this case has been applied...  read more

Code: 65012

Article 6 - WW2 Private Armies - British Security Co-Ordination (BSC)

Perhaps some of the rarest Canadian badges of WW2, and least understood are the two cap badges struck for British Security Co-ordination, or BSC for short. Two patterns are known, both die struck in gilding metal, with loops to the reverse and after a hard look is should be possible to locate the maker's mark on the larger first pattern badge: ' W. Scully / Ltd / Montreal' embossed in small le...  read more

Code: 65011

Article 5 - British India - The Lawrence Royal Military Schools

There were a number of different schools in India formed under this title. The most prominent appears to be the one originally founded in 1847, at Sanawar near Simla, India. It was the initiative of the infamous Sir Henry Lawrence and his wife Honoria and it was initially titled the ‘Lawrence Military Asylum’. Its purpose was to provide an education and care of the children of British soldi...  read more

Code: 64933

Article 4 - The North Eastern Railway (NER) At War

In the first days of the Great War, many railway workers of the North East Railway Company (NER) volunteered to serve, under the direction of Sir Eric Geddes (the infamous wielder of the notorious ‘Geddes Axe’ in post war years), to form a complete battalion raised entirely from the employees of the NER, an organ it was to maintain throughout the next four years of war.

In the f...  read more

Code: 63868

Article 1 - Silver War Badge to the General Staff - 35 in total

According to Davies and Maddock, during the course of the war, 78 British and Dominion officers of the rank of brigadier-general and above were killed or died during active service, while another 146 were wounded, gassed, or captured. What this statistic does not reveal is those awarded the rather humble Silver War Badge. From a search undertaken using the CD-Rom for the Silver War Badge, 35 ...  read more

Code: 63867

Article 2 - British Registered Design Numbers

The numbering sequence of British Registered Design Numbers began in 1884. The example in photograph can therefore be dated to post 1940.

1- 19999 1884
20,000 1885
40,800 1886
64,700 1887
81,800 1888
117,800 1889
142,300 1890
164,000 1891
186,400 1892
206,100 1893
225,000 1894
248,200 1895
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Code: 62741