British War Service pin

[Stinkpotpete]

For war time sensitive or war critical jobs.

[Adrian Stevenson]

These were introduced when the Army was still an all volunteer force. Many men who were of fighting age were given White Feathers by misguided young Ladies thinking they were Cowards. These badges were to show they were "doing their bit" for the War Effort.

Cheers, Ade.

[Stinkpotpete]

Thanks Ade!

[kc1]

They were numbered so the person wearing it could be checked against a central register. Conscription wasn't popular in Britain and some of those eligible really didn't want to go. There was a pre-conscription scheme instituted by Lord Derby, the Derby scheme, whereby you could come out of the woodwork and volunteer, and thereby be on a list, to be called up and pick the arm of service or regiment you wanted to serve in but life would continue as normal like working in a munitions factory, hence the badge. Or you could carry on and be conscripted when they found you and go where there were vacancies, usually the infantry. There weren't the means of checking up on people then that there are today and i don't believe there was any i.d card as there was in the second german war so with a fake badge in a new town you could merge into the background and avoid the attentions of the white feather merchants and recruiting teams. There were also brassards with Derby on them incase you didnt fit in the slot of also being on war work. Similarly the silver wound badges were also numbered to help prevent fraud or exemption from further service.

[Jerry B]

I thought the 1915 on war service badge was only for munitions workers?

[Stinkpotpete]

thank you Kc, I can never find anything in detail about these. I have a wound badge somewhere too, and the card info on the guy it was issued to.

I kind of thought it might have something to do with that too, Jerry, because of the Ordnance markings on the badge. Work is finally slowing down, but hunting season is upon us, so after that I can delve further into all the bits and bobs I've found over the summer.

[Ubique]

I have the blue enamel version somewhere.
I have seen these referred to as munition workers badges too.

Oz.

[Stinkpotpete]

Were the enameled versions made by Australia? I think I've seen one like that, but it was a while ago.

[ynot]

The above badge is the 2nd pattern economy version, enamelled badges becoming a bit too expensive to produce. The S is only found on Gaunt badges as far as I know but I have no idea of the meaning.

The Admiralty had a round enamelled badge for workers building ships but the Ministry of Munitions issued the 1915 On War Service badge so I agree with the comments above that it was only for munitions workers.

There’s also the brass triangle badge issued only to women who were working in munitions and other war work from 1916.

There may have been enamelled badges produced in Australia but the only official ones I know of were produced by Dingley, Gaunt and some Birmingham makers.

Tony

[Ubique]

Finally found the badge and took a couple of pics. It is made by J. R. Gaunt and son and is mentioned in the usefull link below as being an early version, before the cost of the enamel was realised.
Seems it was for a wide range of jobs, not just munitions.

http://tonyjamesnoteworld.biz/wp-con...e_Badges_2.pdf






Cheers,
Oz.