British badge question

[RMR]

Hi I just received this and it raises an interesting Question during WW1 when these badges were issued the recipients service number was stamped on them in this case G4465 is it possible to find the name of the recipient from this number?

[peter monahan]

I would be very pleasantly surprised to discover that the number above is a service number for an individual soldier. The logistics of trying to administer such a program would be horrendous: how many badges does one soldier get? is each numbered the same? what happens when he loses one? is it done at the battalion level, in a factory somewhere or...?

In 30 plus years of dabbling in this hobby I've never heard of any army numbering ordinary badges, though I'm always eager to learn. I'd suggest that the tag is 'after market', added by a subsequent owner of the piece. A museum accession seems a good possibility, or even a more than usually organized [and anal?] collector and there are lots of other possibilities. Police badges are often numbered, presumably so that irate citizens can copy the number and write to an officer's superiors. There is even the chance that the original owner did in fact add his service number to it..

In answer to you main question: WWI records for British and Commonwealth soldiers are usually available these days from the respective national archives/libraries. There are also a number of sites on which enterprising collector historians have posted 'runs' of serial numbers. For example [this one is made up!]: "76000-78000 issued to 13th Battalion CEF".

BTW, you haven't said what the badge IS. British ? Commmonwealth? Something else?

It would certainly make badge collecting far more rewarding if individual pieces could be assigned to individual wearers for research purposes, so I'd love for you to be right but, sadly, I doubt that you are in this case. Sorry!

[Adam H]

WAAC numbers did not have a letter prefix, as far as I know. I would guess that this is another control number similar to that found on WWI "Silver Wound Badges" i.e. serialized but not relating to the service number of the soldier.

[Adam H]

Here is some more info that should help you:

http://britishbadgeforum.com/forums/...ad.php?p=40573

[max7474]

Every badge has an individual number which was done at the time and not by any museum or any collector!

The National Archives in Kew hold the 30% remaining WAAC records.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...fletID=142&j=1 their search engine is not the best and it might take a trip there to view the files but even then it could be laboripus and fruitless.

[RMR]

Thanks for the information guys it seems their's a 1 in 3 chance of finding the recipient short odds but worth a go.Regards Roger

[peter monahan]

Max

Thanks for the info.! I did say I was willing to learn, so I trust that the members will forgive my ignorant pontificating as a genuine attempt to be helpful. Is there, do you know, an explanation as to why the authorities decided to number WAAF badges? I'm still pretty sure that it was not common practice for Britsh badges.

Peter

PS - blame the fact that I was typing at 6:00 am my time for the stupid query as to what the badge is. I do know who the WAAF were.

[RMR]

Hi Peter it's probably because the WAAC was a voluntary organisation,silver wound badges were also numbered.Regards Roger