"Native Courts" Badge

[leigh kitchen]

I thought I'd post this here on the assumption that the courts referred to were courts of law, rather than tennis courts or whatever in a segregated country.

I'm assuming that the badge is British or commonwealth, & that it was worn by staff perhaps including police or prison service in courts dealing wth native peoples, perhaps Africa?

[TS Allen]

I'm quite sure that the British did use th term "Tribal Courts" to refer to local judicial bodies in the African colonies, at least around the WWII period.

The lettering also matches other British armbands from the WWII period until at least the 1950's. The embroidery is identical to all of the period armbands I've seen, largely the common "Civil Defense Corps" armbands. The font is a simple sans serif, the embroidery of the individual letters is all done the same.

Now, the material and construction aren't what I've seen, it looks to be wool; but, it is colonial so who knows! Someone else on this forum does, that's who knows. Also, is it an armband or just a patch? It doesn't seem to have a back side.

~TS

[leigh kitchen]

I was thinking WWII / 1950's, would India fit the bill for "Native" rather than "Tribal"? The badge is to small to be an armband, tho' you can't help but suspect that because of its size it should be on one.

[TS Allen]

I'm sorry Liegh, I mistyped. I meant to write "Native Courts." I have no idea where tribal came from.

I'm not sure if they were ever used in India, although that is possible. I see a lot of armbands that were apparently designed to be pinned on, such as this, although they aren't what is generally seen I guess it doesn't rule out it being an official British armband.

Its possible that based on the color we can identify it to a specific colony...

I'll keep an eye out.

~TS

[Mervyn Mitton]

TS, I would say you were correct in calling them Tribal Courts. I don't think this is for India - rather West Africa. When I lived in Sierra Leone they had Native Courts on old buildings and therefore , I think you will find Nigeria and Ghana had them as well. Within the Colonies a lot of autonomy was left with the Chiefs and with our usual 'sensitivity' this is how we would have labelled them. I would say this has been cut from an armband - possibly by a European to take home as a souvenir. (always the possibiluity East Africa could have had similar Courts ?)