I.D. query

[PFF]

Is it true that ID tags of British Troops for first part of WW I were made of cardboard.

Why Cardboard? Why not use metal ID for tags?

[Joe Sweeney]

PFF,

No its not true.

From Aug of 1906 (introduced in a Jan 1907 Army Order) to Aug of 1914 a round aluminium ID Tag was the norm.

In August 1914 a round red Vulcanized Asbestos fibre tag was introduced to replace the Aluminium tag. Both were worn concurrently for quite some time. The Aluminium tag gradually fading from use by British troops and sometime after by commonwealth troops which kept the metal tags longer but did switch to the fibre tags at least in part. The Fibre tags were worn throughout the war by British troops and nearly to the end of the 20th century.

The image below shows the evolution of tags.

The top image is of the original 1906 tag issued to an Arthur Winton prior to war.

The second image is the Red Vulcanized Asbestos Fibre (looks like card board but isn't) introduced in August 1914. This tag belonged to Cpl John Rice who served in the Irish Guards from Oct 14 through June 16 when he was discharged.

The third image shows the last evolution in tags when a second tag was authorized by AO 287 in Sept 1916. This tag is actually called "Disc, identity, No. 1 green". This tag was worn with the red tag

This shows the basic timeline of tags. There are lots of other very recent threads that goes into great detail on this tags and their variations.

Why the change from metal to fibre?

Joe Sweeney