WW1 British Silver Wound badge

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, I am not a big WW1 collector, but if items come along at the right price, I do buy them.

The Silver Wound badge was issued to British Soldiers who were invalided out of the Army due to Wounds or Sickness and which made them unsuitable for continued active service. They were worn on civilian clothes to show they had done their bit.

What I do like about these badges is that they can be researched. This one was awarded to:


Name: William Hartill
Discharge Unit: 3rd Bat. Liverpool Regt.
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool) Regiment
Regimental Number: 12046
Rank: Pte
Badge Number: 545


Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Here is the other research about him, showing his medal entitlement.

He enlisted on 5/9/1914 and embarked for France on 1/5/1915. By 19/9/1916 his war had ended.

Note how his surname gets spelt differently on different documents. Always bare this in name when conducting research.

Cheers, Ade.

[harryamb2]

nice badge Ade.with its history.

[jimpy]

What Harry said above Ade.

Well done mate.

Regards etc

Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[Jerry B]

these are a great item to collect as you get all the research potential without the cost of a medal group and still get to own a part of that history.

I have only one to John Constantine who served with 2/RWF and was discharged no longer physically fit for service, though some of the groups I own have their SWB's missing. I assume many do not realise they go together and they get split up.


Records of the Silver War Badge of 1914-1918

[Mark Holden]

Ade,

Your Silver War badge was awarded to a New Zealander not I suspect William Hartill. SWB numbers were prefixed for Commonwealth soldiers-A-Australia, C-Canada, I-India, NZ-New Zealand etc,etc. As far as I am aware the NZ records are not online

regards

Mark

[AZPhil]

Thank You Ade. This is the first time that I have seen one of these.
Ya Gotta love this site for the information/education that one receives.

Semper Fi
Phil

[SteveR]

That is a fine acquisition Ade.
I always wondered what type of badge GB used for their wounded personnel.
Now I know thanks to you friend.

[Danmark]

SWB numbers were prefixed for Commonwealth soldiers-A-Australia, C-Canada, I-India, NZ-New Zealand etc,etc. As far as I am aware the NZ records are not online

The FORCES WAR RECORDS website mentions the following.

Approximately 1,150,000 badges were issued, which had to be claimed and then approved. The numbers on the back of the badge kept changing during the war.

Between September 1916 and March 1918, they were issued with just a number ( Around 335,000 of these were issued.)

Between March 1918 and September 1918, these were the second series. This took the number of badges issued up to 450,000.

Between September 1918 and December 1919, they had a 'B' prefix before the number. Around 450,000 of these were issued.

Between December 1919 and January 1920, they had a 'O' prefix, around 5,000 of these were issued.

Looks like it was a kiwi with that NZ prefix .......

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks Mark! I never knew about the prefixes!