Having got hold of early/low number Honorary badges I decided to do a bit more digging into the Honorary 'awards'.
Honorary Membership
This was initally introduced primarily for civilians who the Branches thought 'worthy' and was mainly given to people "who felt strongly about the cause and volunteered their services to assist those who at fought in The Great War."
At first Honorary members were not required to pay fees but as numbers increased (limited to 10% of members) British Legion branches/clubs started charging 'subscriptions' , an example from 1935 :
Members 2/6d (12.5p)
Honorary members 10/6 (52.5p)
World War 2
With membership numbers dropping it was decided to try and recruit "serving personell".
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serving personell could be awarded honorary membership. The status incurred no dues to the serviceman while allowing the Legion to stay in contact with throughout his time in uniform.
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Advertising posters show that one of the reasons for this was to encourage serving personell to remain members when they left the service.
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Join now as an honorary member and become a full member when demobilised or discharged
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What I had not realised until recently (when I got hold of the membership card below) was that they were issued with their own membership cards "for the duration of the war".
After 1973 non serving Honorary Members became Associate and Honorary Membership became the sole province of serving members of HM Forces only , but in 1981 this all changed when they were admitted to Ordinary Membership.
Today :
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If you're a serving member of the UK Armed Forces, regular or reserve, you can register to our Military Member mailing list for free.
As a Military member you'll receive regular emails with great news stories, offers and information.
Please be aware that this is a digital membership and does not have the benefits of a Branch Membership.
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