Liverpool Pals cap badge

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, I thought that I would share this one with you. The owner bought it from a junk shop 40 years ago.

Going up for auction in July.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jerry B]

Chester hallmark?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Jerry, no London.

The funny thing is, the chap bought it in Chester.

Cheers, Ade.

[Jerry B]

very nice, I only have a bronze example, not the super lovely hallmarked silver version. too pricey for me sadly.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A very desirable cap badge in silver! An acquaintance of mine picked up a hallmarked silver example at a car boot sale for £10 last year.

[William1]

Lovely badge, nice to see one not brooched.

[Watchdog]

Fantastic piece of history as well as a great badge.

For those not well into British cap badges etc; The Liverpool Pals (Pals battalions were raised as part of existing regiments but mostly wore partly if not totally different cap badges and were the so called "Kitcheners Army" recruited from very narrow local areas and pretty much all the members came from the same area or even the same few streets hence the name "Pals" with devastating effect on those communities when a unit suffered high casualties), comprised the 17th - 20th Bns of The Kings' Liverpool Regt which were raised by Lord Derby for WWI service. The badge design is the Derby family crest and the silver badges were funded by Lord Derby as his personal gift to those enlisting before mid Oct 1914.
After that the badges were of brass.

I would love to have this in my collection.

Thanks for showing.

Regards

Mark

[HARRY THE MOLE]

The first of the 'Pals' battalions to be raised was the 10th (Service) battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, also known as the 'Stockbrokers battalion'. This followed an appeal from General Sir Henry Rawlinson to the stockbrokers of London in August 1914, and by late August 1,600 men had volunteered. Shortly afterwards, Lord Derby decided to follow suit and set about raising a battalion in Liverpool. Within a matter of days, around 1,500 men had volunteered. In an address to the gathered men, Lord Derby told them:

I am not going to make you a speech of heroics; you have given me your
answer, and I can tell Lord Kitchener tonight to say that our second
battalion is formed.
We have got to see this through to the bitter end, and dictate our terms of
peace to Berlin, if it takes every man in the country.
This should be a battalion of pals, a battalion in which friends from the
same office will fight shoulder to shoulder for the honour of Britain and the
credit of Liverpool.
I do not attempt to minimise to you the hardship we will suffer, the risks
you will run; I don't ask you to uphold Liverpool's honour, it would be an
insult to think you could do anything but that.
But I do thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for coming here tonight
and showing what is the spirit of Liverpool. a spirit that ought to spread
through every city and every town in the kingdom. you have given a noble
example in thus coming forward; you are certain to give a noble example on
the field of battle.


Cheers,
Steve

[Watchdog]

Fantastic piece of history as well as a great badge.

For those not well into British cap badges etc; The Liverpool Pals (Pals battalions were raised as part of existing regiments but mostly wore partly if not totally different cap badges and were the so called "Kitcheners Army" recruited from very narrow local areas and pretty much all the members came from the same area or even the same few streets hence the name "Pals" with devastating effect on those communities when a unit suffered high casualties), comprised the 17th - 20th Bns of The Kings' Liverpool Regt which were raised by Lord Derby for WWI service. The badge design is the Derby family crest and the silver badges were funded by Lord Derby as his personal gift to those enlisting before mid Oct 1914.
After that the badges were of brass.

I would love to have this in my collection.

Thanks for showing.

Regards

Mark

Well, "everything comes to he who waits" as the saying goes and I finally picked up a silver one to accompany the later brass version in my collection.

As referenced above this one has been converted into a brooch which to me is actually preferable from the historic perspective.

It seems to me that the reason they are mostly found in this configuration is that because, being silver and a "personal gift" from Lord Derby they were considered as something special and I doubt that more than a few, if any at all were actually worn in uniform. Most seem to have been given to wives, mothers and sweethearts as a keepsake. Therefore, a badge that was "brooched" was in theory treasured as a reminder of an individual soldier rather than one that was not, suggesting that it stayed in a drawer of jewellery box and more or less disregarded.

This one has a Chester hallmark on the left (sometimes it is on the right) and the edge of the maker mark just visible by the catch on the left of the hallmark.
The added safety chain was/is a common feature of ladies brooches.

An additional bonus is that being regarded as brooches (and sometimes not recognised as cap badges) relegates them price wise to the same bracket as other "sweetheart" items which is good for cap badge collectors

In addition to the later brass badge there is allegedly a heavy bronze version for the Officers Service Dress (OSD) cap but I admit I have never seen one so if anybody here has one please show it.

Regards

Mark

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice one Mark!

Never seen an Officers Bronze.

Cheers, Ade.