Quote:
Originally Posted by dumdum
Hi all
A brief search located the large silver BL badge. It is just marked "SILVER" and then "BMCo" (Birmingham Medal Co).
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Found some info from the now 'defunct' "The British Legion Memorabilia Collectors Club" website.
The Royal Charter of 1925 states :
"MEMBERSHIP Rule 7. - The Members of the Legion shall consist of four classes of Members namely Ordinary , Life , Honorary and Women.
(B) Life Members shall comprise such persons being Ordinary Members of the Legion as the National Executive Council or a Branch shall admit to Life Membership of the Legion."
They mention a "J. R. Gaunt Silver Plated Life Membership badge has the Registered (Membership) Number of 165702 which roughly equates to 1925"
"J. R. Gaunt London were the first enamel badge manufacturer to be contracted to supply British Legion member badges. Since the discovery of the 1928 British (
* should this be Birmingham ?) Medal Company Gold Badge we could only roughly estimate when the Legion
changed its preferred badge manufacturer to be around 1927 -28."
"After WW2 at the 1946 25th Anniversary Conference the members voted to replace all sizes of badge with the smaller one (and redesign the WS badge)". It appears that this is when Gaunt got the contract back ?
"British Legion (BL) Life Membership Badges evolved from its first appearance entirely silver plated, then in silver plated and blue enamel, and then to its final version in brass and enamel".
Note : The BL badge with the lower 'Life Member' scroll appears to be a later version ( post WW2 ?).
So , your silver Birmingham Medal Co. badge may be a variation (silver rather than silver plated) of a Life Membership badge dating between 1927/28 and 1945 ?
NB. "The British Legion Memorabilia Collectors Club" based a lot of it's information on badges (or photos) that it had acquired , but unfortunately it does not provide many documented references.
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