British Empire Militaria

WW1 CHINESE LABOUR CORPS CAP BADGE, WORN BY THE "COOLIES"

A scarce badge, with four blade fixings.

The Chinese Labour Corps were a force of workers recruited by the British government in World War I to free troops for front line duty by performing support work and manual labour. The French government also recruited a significant number of Chinese labourers, and although those labourers working for the French were recruited separately and not part of the CLC, they are often considered to be so. In all, some 140,000 men served for both British and French forces before the war ended and most of the men were repatriated to China between 1918 and 1920.

Reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Labour_Corps

Code: 54663

140.00 GBP

WW2 NON COMBATANT CORPS CAP BADGE.

A fine uncleaned brass cap badge for the Non Combatant Corps (N.C.C.). In good condition complete with slider. Worn 1939-40

The NCC was re-formed during August 1940, just over a year after conscription was reintroduced.The corps was composed of conscripted men who had been registered as non-combatants by tribunals. Unlike in the Great War, there were also enlisted members of the NCC who had been deemed not physically competent for combatant service. This gave the Corps less of a stigma than it had twenty five years earlier. It was divided into 14 companies, commanded mostly by veteran officers of the First World War and reservists. During the course of the war 6,766 men served in the NCC, of whom 465 volunteered to specialise in bomb disposal, on attachment to the Royal Engineers but remaining in the NCC. In 1944-45 some volunteered for transfer to the Royal Army Medical Corps, while retaining their non-combatant status, in order to join Parachute Field Ambulance units dropped over France on and after D-Day. Others worked in army stores, transport, agriculture, forestry, or on other projects 'not involving the handling of military material of an aggressive nature'. As in WW1, the NCC was part of the army, not a civilian unit.

Code: 54101

SOLD

WW2 NON COMBATANT CORPS CAP BADGE.

A fine uncleaned brass cap badge for the Non Combatant Corps (N.C.C.). In good condition complete with slider. Worn 1939-40

The NCC was re-formed during August 1940, just over a year after conscription was reintroduced.The corps was composed of conscripted men who had been registered as non-combatants by tribunals. Unlike in the Great War, there were also enlisted members of the NCC who had been deemed not physically competent for combatant service. This gave the Corps less of a stigma than it had twenty five years earlier. It was divided into 14 companies, commanded mostly by veteran officers of the First World War and reservists. During the course of the war 6,766 men served in the NCC, of whom 465 volunteered to specialise in bomb disposal, on attachment to the Royal Engineers but remaining in the NCC. In 1944-45 some volunteered for transfer to the Royal Army Medical Corps, while retaining their non-combatant status, in order to join Parachute Field Ambulance units dropped over France on and after D-Day. Others worked in army stores, transport, agriculture, forestry, or on other projects 'not involving the handling of military material of an aggressive nature'. As in WW1, the NCC was part of the army, not a civilian unit.

Code: 53754

SOLD

WOMENS ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS CAP BADGE

A fine gilding metal example, with two loops to reverse. Reference K & K Vol 1 item page 272

The UK's Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (1917–1918) was later named Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (1918–1920). It was formally instituted on 7 July, 1917 by Sir Neville Macready, the adjutant-general, who had appointed Dr Mona Chalmers Watson the first Chief Controller and senior officer. On 31 March 1917 women in the WAAC were first sent to the battlefields in France, just 14 cooks and waitresses. Helen Gwynne-Vaughan was the Senior Officer overseas, and Florence Leach was the controller of the cooks. The corps was disbanded in September 1921.

After a German air raid in September 1940 most of the service records did not survive. Those which did have suffered fire, water and mould damage. The National Archives in Kew, Surrey, digitised these to prevent further damage and they can be searched and viewed online. The last WAAC veteran was Ivy Lillian Campany, who died in 2008.

Code: 53352

SOLD

WW1 CHINESE LABOUR CORPS CAP BADGE, WORN BY THE "COOLIES"

WW2 NON COMBATANT CORPS CAP BADGE.

WW2 KINGS CROWN NATIONAL DEFENCE COMPANY CAP BADGE

WW2 NON COMBATANT CORPS CAP BADGE.

UNITED SERVICES CORPS CAP BADGE

MILITARY PROVOST STAFF FORAGE CAP BADGE

E11R GURKHA MILITARY POLICE CAP BADGE

ARMY CYCLIST CORPS WW1 16 [spoke] CAP BADGE

WOMENS ARMY AUXILIARY CORPS CAP BADGE

ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY SANDHURST OFFICERS CADET CAP BADGE