I’ve been taking pictures of Nottingham-related badges recently. You probably guessed that from the photographs of Nottingham-related badges in this post.
The “Comforts for Troops” badge in the header picture opens up some interesting sites on the net, including this one, with the story of Beatrice Whitby, who seems to have been an exceptional woman, even from the age of eleven. Interestingly, given the times in which she grew up, she did all that work without even having the right to vote.
There is an archive preserved in the Imperial War Museum, which includes many personal papers, and 209 postcards from soldiers who received parcels from the fund whilst prisoners of war. I will let you read the link if you want more detail, for now I will just say that they sent 40,000 parcels to prisoners of war, which was a huge effort.
My Dad and his two brothers raised money for comforts, with a penny a week fund and various other events during the Second World War, so this is an area that I’m quite interested in. Dad never mentioned it, I found out by accident when researching family history in newspapers a few months ago.
This is an Australian article on knitted comforts as I can’t find anything on knitted comforts from Nottinghamshire. It’s interesting, though it does seem a bit ungrateful in places when discussing the quality of socks.
I can’t find anything on the Relatives Association badge so far, or the Hospital badge, though I can tell you that I bought the badge in a mixed lot at the J. Tanenbaum Collection at Neales Auction (Nottingham) on 28 February 1991. It was incidental to the things I actually wanted and it was the badge that set me off collecting badges, so it has a lot to answer for.
Unique collection!
I’m sure there are better collections, but it’s been a pleasure collecting them.
Another very interesting post, Simon. What a woman that Beatrice Whitby was!
Yes, she seems to have got through a lot of work. 🙂
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I, too, enjoyed reading about Beatrice Whitby. So much history in those badges! And look how one started you on your path. Small but mighty.
Yes, from little acorns…
Nice that there were awards or recognition for those back home, in the war effort-more than there is now. Interesting piece.
It’s difficult to understand how involved people were, until you read the stories of some of the people involved.
Another fascinating consequence of collecting. I particularly enjoyed the Beatrice Whitby link
She seems to have been quite a woman.
Always an education here, Quercus! 🙂
Thank you, I try to keep learning.
Thank you for expanding my knowledge!
No problem – I know more about Roy Orbison after reading your post. 🙂