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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Frederick Bryant - only 102 MIC's!


stevem49

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My Chirpododists Grandfather served in WW1. Being Frederick Bryant from Wales means that it may take a while to find him - but -

He has a box 2 inch by 1 inch approx which holds the above. The badge has 'ypres' which was possibly added at a later date. The round was taken out of him and is approx 1 inch long and quarter diameter (any ideas as to what the weapon was). Frederick did have another initial which he is attempting to find.

I have another photo to upload.

All comments welcome!

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Above shows the proper colourings. I took the photos with the phone, so not that good!

The bronze colour is the piece that has 'ypres' The rea of the badge does look like a cap or shoulder badge.

Steve

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Steve,

The shield with the three fleur de lys is the coat of arms of France.

See the left hand shield here (the other two shields are the British Royal Arms and those of Ypres):

post-20192-1265911954.jpg

This is on the Australian War Memorial website here:

AWM - Souvenir Brooch : Ypres

... where it is described thus:

Bronze souvenir brooch of the town of Ypres. The brooch comprises the Coats of Arms of Ypres and France, separated by the British Royal Coat of Arms. A banner at the bottom contains the word 'YPRES'. There is a pin clasp on the reverse.

c 1914-1918

Can't really make out the rear of the object due to the picture quality and lack of scale, but it could be a curved TF shoulder title, or possible a rifles/light infantry hunting horn??

It's a start anyway!

HTH

Cheers,

Mark

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Can't really make out the rear of the object due to the picture quality and lack of scale, but it could be a curved TF shoulder title, or possible a rifles/light infantry hunting horn??

Looks like a bullet to me, but I have no idea of the scale!

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Looks like a bullet to me, but I have no idea of the scale!

Steve's already told us it's the round taken out of our man, so a German (hopefully) bullet.

Also I was harsh saying there's no idea of scale - Steve's given quite a few dimensions when I look back more carefully! :blush:

So we have an object that fits inside a box 2" x 1".

The object is made of some components that appear to have been joined together (soldered?) into a memento, viz:

  • at rear, a spent round apparently extracted from the man's body! Approx. 1" long and ¼" diameter
  • at front, a crowned shield with three fleurs de lys - the national coat of arms of France
  • a scroll labelled "Ypres"
  • last two seem to be mounted to the front of a roughly triangular frame with bottom edge curved into an arc the apex of which seems to be attached on the back to the barrel of the spent round.
  • two small triangular spangles? mounted assymmetrically near the two upper ends of the bottom arc
Given that the object fits into a 2" x 1" box, the triangular frame looks a bit small for a curved shoulder title, so perhaps a collar dog, or possibly a cap badge to one of the light infantry regiments that used the strung hunting horn without a crown - OBLI? KSLI?

Having seen the actual object Steve, is the above a fairly accurate summary?

Can you tell us anything more about the 'spangles'? I'm stumped to see what they are in the pics!

Certainly a grisly memento! Intriguing!

Cheers,

Mark

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Whoops. yes except for - The bullet is just resting on the badge and not attached - sorry.

We have two items - a badge and a bullet.

I will fiddle with the photo again to see if I can make it any better. The spangles look like two ' acorns'

The middle does look like the one in the photo - left side with 3 Fleur de lys and crown.

I will phone him to see if he can send a better photo. if not I will take my camera next time!- coming next week I put the inch long bullet next to the badge to show size of badge which would also be approx 1 inch wide.

Cheers

Steve

stop press.............

Could not wait so phoned him just now - The badge does have 3 Fleur de lys and the spangles do look like acorns.

Apparently his mother was born in 1916, so I have told him to dig out the birth cert as we may get a regiment!

s

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Not sure of his birthplace yet, Gwyn (Chiropodist) is going to look out the various certs over the weekend. I think his grandfather may have taken a shoulder title/collar badge and had the 'ypres' scroll added.

Problem is that Gwyn does not do computers so will be getting a photo and mailing it to me :rolleyes:

Just checked the NA MIC site and none of the 102 served in the Cheshire's.

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This is a better photo of the badge. The acorns are actually fir cones by the looks of it. The 'ypres' scroll obviously added afterwards to the badge. Under the scroll it looks like another fir cone. Could it be Belgian or French?

The coat of arms is identical to the left side of the badge that Mark posted.

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I've got a similar badge, from a different town. Mine has a diving swallow over a scroll marked Cambrai. It looks about the same size as yours and the scroll is the same shape. Had it for years and could never identify it.

Ross

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