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Greetings Ladies & Gents,

As much as I love reading antiquarian books it can sometimes be a challenge, however the rewards can often be well worth it, with little treasures of contemporary information coming to light that inform and enhance our experience of collecting and studying our passions. This happened to me last night while (slowly) working my way through a 1903 first edition of 'The History of Lumsden's Horse' - an Anglo-Indian volunteer unit that served in the Boer War. It is no secret that I have been on the hunt for a badge to this unit for quite some time and to date my good fortune in this regard has been lacking, so the search continues. However I came upon a paragraph (page 93) that not only mentions the 'shoulder badges' (of Lumsden's Horse) but also relates a story of how the locals were collecting badges to this and any other unit that happened by. Aside from my interest in Lumsden's Horse, I thought this was a really telling narrative of badge collecting in general so wanted to share it here (also shared on the B&C Badge forum).

The date of this incident is April of 1900 and the location East London, South Africa.

"Little boys and girls (some of the latter not so very little, after all) were very keen to get hold of our shoulder badges as mementoes, and, needless to say, the susceptible ones of our corps were unable to resist the entreaties of the fair ones, and daylight showed a vacant place on many a shoulder-strap. This badge-collecting seems to be a great hobby out here just now; one boy showed me a belt simply covered with badges, which he had secured from the men of the different regiments that had passed through."

We all know that badge collecting is not a new pursuit but it's always lovely to find an early first hand account of this activity actually happening. Now I want to know what happened to that boy's belt..?

Cheerio and happy collecting,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com

Good Afternoon Roy......

Not so uncommon an idea..... I read a newspaper article about WW1 Canadian soldiers having people coming up to them and cutting off their buttons.....
I understand that this is the reason that Sweetheart /Souvenir pins came into style..... A soldier without proper badges on his uniform could be charged so other regimental badges were made so they could be handed out as souvenirs...... I remember a store on Portobello Road that had barrels of Victorian and WW1 badges that were sold by the pound.....

Mike

Thank you for interesting posts, Roy and Mike.
Dredged from the recesses of my now failing brain is an image of a belt worn by a Boer soldier that was decorated with badges of enemy soldiers that he had presumably collected while on active service. No doubt British soldiers would have done the same, but Boer soldiers wearing badges were a great rarity.
Regards
Brett

That would certainly go quite a considerable way to explaining why they used to turn up in South Africa in the 1960's and 1970's and very seldom anywhere else!

RoyS wrote: Greetings Ladies & Gents,

As much as I love reading antiquarian books it can sometimes be a challenge, however the rewards can often be well worth it, with little treasures of contemporary information coming to light that inform and enhance our experience of collecting and studying our passions. This happened to me last night while (slowly) working my way through a 1903 first edition of 'The History of Lumsden's Horse' - an Anglo-Indian volunteer unit that served in the Boer War. It is no secret that I have been on the hunt for a badge to this unit for quite some time and to date my good fortune in this regard has been lacking, so the search continues. However I came upon a paragraph (page 93) that not only mentions the 'shoulder badges' (of Lumsden's Horse) but also relates a story of how the locals were collecting badges to this and any other unit that happened by. Aside from my interest in Lumsden's Horse, I thought this was a really telling narrative of badge collecting in general so wanted to share it here (also shared on the B&C Badge forum).

The date of this incident is April of 1900 and the location East London, South Africa.

"Little boys and girls (some of the latter not so very little, after all) were very keen to get hold of our shoulder badges as mementoes, and, needless to say, the susceptible ones of our corps were unable to resist the entreaties of the fair ones, and daylight showed a vacant place on many a shoulder-strap. This badge-collecting seems to be a great hobby out here just now; one boy showed me a belt simply covered with badges, which he had secured from the men of the different regiments that had passed through."

We all know that badge collecting is not a new pursuit but it's always lovely to find an early first hand account of this activity actually happening. Now I want to know what happened to that boy's belt..?

Cheerio and happy collecting,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com

Thanks for your comments gents,

It's great to find these little pieces of period information. It also highlights that the life of a piece of insignia is not always what one might think.

Cheerio,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com

Thanks for your comments gents,

It's great to find these little pieces of period information. It also highlights that the life of a piece of insignia is not always what one might think.

Cheerio,

Roy

Collecting/wanted ABW insignia if anyone has some spares?

My website: www.wilkinsonfscollection.com