Silver War Badges

[lemme]

Hello all,

Just wondering if there were any official rules and regulations regarding the wearing of a SWB?

Were you supposed to wear it all the time, on work clothes for example, or just for 'Sunday best'.

And when did men stop wearing them, after the Armistice or were they worn for some time after?

Thanks

Lemme

[Andrew Upton]

On 22/11/2012 at 05:38, lemme said:

Just wondering if there were any official rules and regulations regarding the wearing of a SWB?

Were you supposed to wear it all the time, on work clothes for example, or just for 'Sunday best'.

And when did men stop wearing them, after the Armistice or were they worn for some time after?

"The Badge will be worn on the right breast or the right lapel of the jacket, but not in Naval or Military uniform."

 

That's about it, everything else is pretty much up to individual taste. A man obviously missing a limb might have felt less of the need to wear his badge at all than say a man invalided out with less visible wounds who might need something to show instead.

[lemme]

Thanks very much for that Andrew.

It sprung to mind as I'm not sure I've ever seen a photograph of an ex soldier wearing a SWB in civvies.

Another question if I may, were SWB's handed out on discharge?

It's just that my Grandfather's SWB record is date stamped 7th Oct 1918 though his discharge is not until the 20th Oct, so 2 weeks before he was due to be discharged a SWB number had been allocated, enough time for the maker to stamp the badge for presentation? Or am I reading too much into the dates?

Lemme

[spof]

Lemme

I've seen one or two photos of the badges being woprn in civvies - not many though.

The timing of their distribution varies. As the badge wasn't instituted until 1916, men discharged prior to that obviously couldn't get it until later. In your case, I assume that once it was determined your grandfatehr was being discharged, the Records Office would have sent the claim voucher out with the standard discharge paperwork and it was obviously returned in enough time to be awarded prior to discharge. The badges appear to have been pre-numbered. We had a discussion here a few years ago to try and make sense on the numbering and worked out that they were sent to REcords Offices in batches upon request by that office. For example one number e.g. 1234 might have gone to Canterbury while 1235 could be in York.

Glen

[lemme]

Thanks very much for that Glen,

Rechecking GF's SWB record sheet, all of the other 5 men recorded on there are alsol from the HLI, so the idea of them being sent out in batches seems to be the right one.

Without wishing to get bogged down in the minutiae of military paperwork, does anyone know anything about the claim form for a SWB? Did you have a simple yes/no I would/wouldn't like one, or was there more to it than that?

Lemme

[Andrew Upton]

Without wishing to get bogged down in the minutiae of military paperwork, does anyone know anything about the claim form for a SWB? Did you have a simple yes/no I would/wouldn't like one, or was there more to it than that?

There is somewhere on the forum a very long and detailed discussion looking into the issue/claims procedure attached to the SWB. Suffice to say there isn't a simple answer...

[lemme]

Thanks Andrew,

I searched and Io I found; the 2009 thread 'SWB due to being gassed' all eventually became clear!

As you say the answer isn't simple, but thanks to diligent research work by a group of forum members the issue was clarified - though it did take several months and over 9 pages of discussion!

Bravo

Lemme