Silver War Badge.

[Dave B]

WW1 British Silver War badge also called the Wound Badge.

The Silver War Badge

The Silver War Badge (SWB), sometimes erroneously called the Silver Wound Badge, was authorised in September 1916 and takes the form of a circular badge with the legend "For King and Empire-Services Rendered" surrounding the George V cypher. The badge was awarded to all of those military personnel who were discharged as a result of sickness or wounds contracted or received during the war, either at home or overseas.

Above text courtesy of The National Archives.

[attachmentid=62724]

[attachmentid=62725]

[leigh kitchen]

In 3 different types variations? with some identification such as British, Canadian recipient etc available from the serial number without checking records, exact ID is also available from records.

[Dave B]

The earlier badges have a horizontal pin like the one shown above and the later types have a vertical pin.Also the earlier ones only have a number while the later badges will be prefixed by a letter..B for Army,RN for Royal Navy,RAF for airforce,SA for South Africa,C for Canada..there are a few more but those are the only ones I've seen,if anyone has seen any different letter prefixes then please post.

Here is the later type with vertical pin and letter prefix,this one C for Canada.

[attachmentid=62745]

[attachmentid=62746]

[Ed_Haynes]

For India "I", the only ones I have.

[Gordon Williamson]

Army Example with "B" prefix

[Nick]

More prefixes

NZ New Zealand

A Australia

Anyone got a miniature Badge ?

[leigh kitchen]

RAF for RAF, SA for South African, Howard Williams conjectures whether Merchant Navy would be MN or BT for Board of Trade.

[Dave B]

Got this superb card from eBay, wounded guy with Silver War Badge and 3 wounded stripes on his civilian jacket.

[leigh kitchen]

Possibly wearing hospital blues with white shirt & red tie under the jacket - wound stripes on the wrong arm, but then it's a civilian jacket anyway.the

[Graham Stewart]

Each recipient of the SWB also received a Certificate, which showed the numbered badge to which he was entitled. The myth behind the SWB is that it was issued for "wounds", which it wasn't, it's issue was for "Services Rendered" as stated on the certificate and that included issue to men who had been discharged for medical reasons and who had never served overseas, as in the case of the above 24/486 Pte John Morrison, 24th Bn, Northumberland Fusiliers(1st Tyneside Irish), who enlisted on the 10th October 1914 and was discharged on the 1st December 1914 under Kings Regulations Para 392(xvi), being "no longer physically fit for war service". At the age of 37years he was declared to have "Dropsy".

Graham.

Edited August 3, 2007 by Graham Stewart

[Graham Stewart]

A slightly different SWB Certificate this time issued to Pte Felix Thomas Jones a former 6foot 2inch trooper of the 1st Life Guards who was discharged in 1897. He re-enlisted into the 6th Bn, R.Warwickshire Regt(T.F.) on the 26th April 1915 and then transferred to the Royal Defence Corps on its formation. He was eventually discharged on the 31st May 1918 from the R.D.C..

Graham.