The BIG Fat Lambourne Thread
 

With a great deal of help from Andy (Nozzer), Tim (TWGB) and Michael (Expat Yeoman) I’ve assembled the below list of Lambourne made British Army cap badges in our collections or ones we have seen and believe to be genuine.

I’ve attached relevant KK badge references and arranged them mostly in the order of KK. Hopefully this will be of assistance to members. Please do bear in mind that Lambourne marks and the below badges have been faked so a Lambourne mark on one of these doesn’t automatically equate to a genuine badge.

No doubt there are a few more out there so please do get in touch if you can add to the list.

Regular Infantry
The Royal Scots - KK589
Royal Fusiliers - KK597
The King’s Regiment - KK598
The Norfolk Regiment - KK599
Lincolnshire Regiment - KK600
The Suffolk Regiment - KK605
West Yorkshire Regiment - KK608
The Bedfordshire Regiment - KK610
Lancashire Fusiliers - KK618
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers - KK632
Gloucestershire Regiment - KK634
East Lancashire Regiment - KK638
Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry - KK641
The Border Regiment - KK645
Royal Sussex Regiment - KK646
South Lancashire Regiment - KK652
South Lancashire Regiment (1916 GM) - KK652
The Welsh Regiment - KK653
The Essex Regiment - KK660
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment - KK664
Northamptonshire Regiment - KK2008
Royal Berkshire Regiment - KK667
King’s Shropshire Light Infantry - KK671
King’s Royal Rifle Corps - KK675
The Manchester Regiment - KK677
York and Lancaster Regiment - KK679
Royal Irish Rifles - KK691
Royal Irish Fusiliers - KK694
The Leinster Regiment (1916 GM) - KK699

Cavalry
7th Dragoon Guards - KK749
Royal Scots Greys - KK752
20th Hussars - KK793

Corps & Services
Royal Artillery - KK808 (also with moving wheel)
Royal Engineers -KK853
Army Service Corps - KK990
Royal Army Medical Corps - KK1007
Army Pay Corps - KK1033
Army Pay Corps - KK1035
Army Remount Service - KK1047
Tank Corps - KK1158

Yeomanry
Warwickshire Yeomanry - KK1408
Shropshire Yeomanry - KK1415
Earl of Chester’s Yeomanry - KK1419
Denbighshire Hussars* - KK1443
Berkshire Yeomanry - KK1449
Loyal Suffolk Hussars - KK1455
North Devon Hussars - KK1456
West Kent Yeomanry - KK1459
Fife and Forfar Yeomanry - KK1479
Glamorgan Yeomanry - KK1481
Essex Yeomanry - KK1490
Lovat Scouts - KK1500

*N.B. Intentionally not included as 15th London to avoid duplicity.

Territorials
Royal Artillery (TF) - KK821 (also with moving wheel)
The Royal Scots (TF) - KK559 (in WM)
The King’s Regiment (TF) - KK1701
6th Bn The King’s Regiment (TF) - KK1702
The Suffolk Regiment (TF) - KK1710
Gloucestershire Regiment (TF) - KK1720
South Lancashire Regiment (TF) - KK1735 (in BB)
Buckinghamshire Battalion (TF) - KK1737
The Essex Regiment (TF) - KK1739
The Hertfordshire Regiment - KK1806
The Cambridgeshire Regiment - KK1817

Cyclists
7th (Cyclist) Battalion, The Welsh Regiment* - KK1865
The Kent Cyclists Battalion - KK1867
The Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion - KK1870

*N.B. Possible? See https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...14&postcount=9 I know of 2 Lambourne made Welsh Regt badges with black finishes.

The West Kent Yeomanry / Kent Cyclists has been included twice because there appears to be two separate Lambourne dies with the horses heads at varying angles. Notwithstanding it’s a small mystery why in wartime they’d cut two dies for essentially the same badge?

You can add a WW1 Australian rising sun.

The first "The King's Regiment" is the 5th Bn

Have you two any ideas as to why here are two Lambourne tags - different workshops, chronology or what. It's probably not a great deal

anyway - keep up the good work
J

LAMBOURNE’S / BIRMINGHAM

LAMBOURNE & Co / BIRMINGHAM



PS I have only seen the
LAMBOURNE’S / BIRMINGHAM on the 6th Bn badges - they all have the & Co etc version

Hi Chaps,

Thanks very much. I intentionally didn’t included the Rising Sun or any V.T.C.s, Red Cross badges etc. in this to keep the focus British Army.

Yes you’re right Julian, the KK number for the first is for the BB 5th Bn badge shown in KK. Afraid I don’t know dates or chronologies for the two marks, but I would love to know. All I can say is both can be found on the 1916 all GM issue Leinster so both must’ve been in use in WW1. Why use the use of Lambournes and Lambourne & Co is another mini-mystery?

Cheers,

Luke

West Kent Yeomanry / Kent Cyclists
 

From one quandary on Lambournes / Lambourne & Co marks to another.

Here are the two badges the from different dies mentioned above. As you can see they’re significantly different in their fine detail but the overall design - a rearing horse on a scroll inscribed Invicta in WM - is the same.

I’ve also attached the images from KK. The first with a more horizontal gaze is listed as WKY whilst the second with its head angled up purports to be Kent Cyclist Battalion.

Bosley’s sold a badge, Lot 465 in their 25th Jan 2017 sale, - https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/a...4-a6f800dbc6f6 which matches the first badge shown (WKY) but was advertised as Kent Cyclists?

It does seem the second badge is more common than the first but whether it’s safe to draw inferences from this I’m unsure at present.

From Ticker’s research we know Lambourne were a significant WW1 manufacturer. And I’m yet to see a badge with a Lambourne mark that can be categorically dated post WW1 which suggests there’s a strong chance they were a wartime only maker. In which case why cut two dies so similar?

Does anyone have any suggestions or information that may help?

(picture on the red background courtesy of David Smith - British Army Badges)

Here are my RA examples if they help

regards

Thanks Simon. I’ve added with moving wheel to the Ubique scroll RA.

Regards,

Luke

I suspect that it might be the incorporation - ie became a limited company.
A quick look through the London Gazette might reveal such a change ?
What else am I doing!


Yes, I forgot about Ticker's list??


The two types (regular and 5th Bn) with both legends - but both are on the same dies.

Lambourne Badges
 

Luke,

A welcome thread; thanks!

One more 'Definite' (almost) and a couple of queries. What do you think?

1455 Loyal Suffolk Hussars has a copper tablet, as seen on some other Lambourne badges. I think it should be on the list?

1033 Army Pay Corps is definitely Lambourne's, but K&K states this badge was only in use 1898-1900, and we are not aware that Lambourne were making badges at this time. My guess is that 1033 ended up being used at a Shoulder Title?

749 7th Dragoon Guards definitely has a Lambourne slider, but the join is fairly grubby compared with most other brass Lambourne badges. This could be a repair, utilising a Lambourne slider on a non-Lambourne badge?

To change direction slightly, I also have an Royal Artillery (KK808) moving wheel OSD badge, with just one Lambourne stamped folding tab remaining. I am almost certain that the same die was used as for the OR bronze badge, or perhaps I should qualify that: The front is identical, as far as I can see, but the badge is much thicker, and the back has no definition. It is almost certainly die-cast, rather than die-stamped, so maybe just half the die was used? Does this seem feasible?

Oh, and just for completeness, we should not forget that there are some Lambourne badges with a "Lambourne s" mark, with a gap but no apostrophe. Probably down to a broken stamp!

Best regards, and stay safe, Tim

Tim,

Many thanks indeed. Great badges. The LSH is very Lambourne sans braze holes.

The 7DG is probably the most Lambourne badge ever, no doubt at all it’s by them - thoroughly looks the part and that missing void is fantastic. Several of my Lambourne badges have suffered attack by verdigris, it could be that around the slider join which has then been neutralised and gone black?

Nice addition of the APC too, thank you.

The Lambourne OSDs with marks on the tags are interesting. The two others I’ve seen an Essex Regt and Army Remounts Service are not from the known OR dies. Be good to see your example if possible please.

Cheers, Luke

Royal ScotsFusiliers
 

Interesting that OSD badges are now being discussed as I am sure I remember a thread from the early days of the Forum which concluded that Lambourne only made OR badges.

That made me slightly uncomfortable back then about my Lambourne officer’s Royal Scots Fusiliers badge KK 1959.

So I’m going to throw this in the hat too and see what comes up. Fire gilt grenade, separate royal arms attached to the grenade by three pins (one missing). Two fixing loops same type as on fur cap etc. Makers tab Lambourne's/Birmingham (space between e and s and apostrophe).
Mark

Lambourne OSD badges
 

They are certainly rare! I have over fifty Lambourne badges, and only one OSD; in fact, it's the only one I've ever come across.

Pictures below, along with it's OR cousin. Two are face on, two from an angle to show the difference in thickness, and two from behind to show the difference in definition.

Based on a non-microscopic inspection (made more difficult by the thickness of the brown paint layer on the OSD badge) the flaw above the D in the motto seems similar in both badges. I'd venture that the second jewel from the right at the bottom of the crown bleeds slightly into the row above, but that could just be the paint on the OSD badge.

I did wonder if it was just the paint obscuring the detail on the rear, so I had a little scrape on the back of the scroll; it was flat.

Opinions welcome, or a little camera wizardry to conform either way...

Best regards, and stay safe! Tim

Here's one I have. It's a bit rough looking but I think it is genuine, also, it has an hairpin slider.
Cheers,
Alex

I have one of these. My opinion is that they were left unvoided to simplify production due to WW1 demand. It's possible they were commercially sold rather than for a WD contract. Several other regts were unpierced in placesd including Devons, Dorsets and Suffolks.