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Remembered Today:

WWI - what would my great-grandfather have called these?


Emily Gillatt-Ball

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Were they called 'dog-tags' by British troops in the Great War?

 

If not, how would they have referred to them?

herbert dogtags.jpg

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The LF is probably Lancashire Fusiliers. I don't know what CON means.

 

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They were known as fibre identity discs. CON could be Congregational Church.


Scott

Edited by Waddell
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Yes, that was his denomination. Thank you!

 

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It’s a good question.  I think that they probably were called Identify discs, but quickly gained the slang term dog-tags even as far back as WW1, as similar tags were fitted to urban dogs of the middle classes even back then.  Although the working classes and men with working dogs (e.g. shepherds and herders) would not have been able to afford name tags.  It wasn’t really until the licensing of dogs that tags became ubiquitous. Con did/does indeed stand for Congregational.

Edited by FROGSMILE
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What was the fibre, does anyone know? Wool? They are hard, like leather, not soft like fabric.

 

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Very interesting article - thank you!

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This is the explanation from the Imperial War Museum, London:

 

“Thin aluminium discs were the first official types, typically made at Regimental depots on fairground-style machines, punching into the soft metal one letter at a time.  The layout was rarely in perfect alignment.”

 

“By 1915 the British Army requirement was to wear two official tags, both made of compressed fibre (more comfortable to wear in hot climates) and carrying identical details. These were again stamped a letter at a time.  The two tags required stringing in a particular way. An eight-sided green tag with two holes was strung through one hole and hung around the neck. Through the second hole another much shorter cord was strung, which had a round red tag on it. This method allowed the red tag to be retrieved simply by cutting its short string, leaving the green tag still in place on the body. It meant that others subsequently finding a body with only a green tag would know that the death was already being reported. They could use the details on the green tag to prepare a grave marker.”

 

 

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An old thread here indicates the fibre could be vulcanized asbestos fibre-

 

 

Scott

 

 

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 I won't handle them more than I need to!

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May be store in a sealed plastic bag. Asbestos was used for a lot of things back then- we had an old ironing board with an asbestos square for the iron to sit on years ago. .

Edited by Waddell
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They are in a glass case (my family history 'museum'), which is opened only rarely.

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10 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

This is the explanation from the Imperial War Museum, London:

 

“Thin aluminium discs were the first official types, typically made at Regimental depots on fairground-style machines, punching into the soft metal one letter at a time.  The layout was rarely in perfect alignment.”

 

“By 1915 the British Army requirement was to wear two official tags, both made of compressed fibre (more comfortable to wear in hot climates) and carrying identical details. These were again stamped a letter at a time.  The two tags required stringing in a particular way. An eight-sided green tag with two holes was strung through one hole and hung around the neck. Through the second hole another much shorter cord was strung, which had a round red tag on it. This method allowed the red tag to be retrieved simply by cutting its short string, leaving the green tag still in place on the body. It meant that others subsequently finding a body with only a green tag would know that the death was already being reported. They could use the details on the green tag to prepare a grave marker.”

 

 

 

Unfortunately a good example of how the IWM does get things wrong sometimes! :doh:

 

Both the aluminium and the later fibre ID discs were hand stamped (although pre-war some Guards units seem to have favoured the use of single pre-formed stamps for the unit details and only hand stamped the remaining information). The frequently poor alignment is because the stamps were simply "eyeballed" into position, and I can speak from experience how difficult it is to get it perfect!

 

The second ID disc wasn't introduced until September 1916, a noticeable correlation to ongoing events at the Somme...

 

Vulcanised Asbestos Fibre is still widely available today, being used for things like washers and similar. Unless you decide to shred and inhale it, with minimum handling and ordinary display it should be safe.

 

1909 ID disc marking.jpg

DSC01283.JPG

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19 minutes ago, Andrew Upton said:

 

Unfortunately a good example of how the IWM does get things wrong sometimes! :doh:

 

Both the aluminium and the later fibre ID discs were hand stamped (although pre-war some Guards units seem to have favoured the use of single pre-formed stamps for the unit details and only hand stamped the remaining information). The frequently poor alignment is because the stamps were simply "eyeballed" into position, and I can speak from experience how difficult it is to get it perfect!

 

The second ID disc wasn't introduced until September 1916, a noticeable correlation to ongoing events at the Somme...

 

Vulcanised Asbestos Fibre is still widely available today, being used for things like washers and similar. Unless you decide to shred and inhale it, with minimum handling and ordinary display it should be safe.

 

 


That’s interesting Andrew.  My own first issue of dog tags was also hand stamped using the stamp set issued to every infantry company Colour Sergeant (CQMS).  It was a very old-fashioned way of doing it that I recall vividly, and as you say led to irregular impressions.

Edited by FROGSMILE
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Thank you all for your help.

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