Schools of Nursing Forum

I subscribe to a number of different historical and collectables magazines, and several of these have pages where readers can write in with their enquiries to see if other collectors or experts can provide an answer.Thus I was able to identify a recent military Nurse in Training Badge as coming from the Gold Coast.As amongst our members of this forum there is a wide ranging experience and a wealth of reference material,I wonder if a similar section here might be worth a go? I'm sure we won't be able to answer every query but even if we can share what knowledge we do have I for one would be grateful as I have a lot of unanswered questions about different items I have collected.
What do members think?

hi sounds like  very good idea to me

There is an awful lot of information out there, for some years I have been a member of and contributed to The Great War Forum http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/ this is a fantastic resource. I saw the badge you mention in the Armourer, but I have a finding that it has been mentioned before, on this site. Mick

Hello all.

An excellent idea Peter.  Can  ask how you see this section - you could just leave it as 'Ask Matron' or simply start a new topic.  Members can easily add photographs herein - either directly or by pointing to a link with a badge photograph if needed.

Will.

Really good idea and could be a great help at times.

Now There's a very good idea, why didn't I think of that, I have a number of items I don't know what they are and with luck I may be able to recognise items others have in there collections that they're not certain about.

 Heres one for any suggestions.
Does anyone know about Heath Authority or other Badges which feature Lug back fixings.For the uninitiated this means two or more circular fixings ,either soldered to or as part of a badge,through which a sprung clip can be passed securing it to a uniform or cap.I occasionally come across these but my usual thought is that they are for cap badges although I do know that the large Prince of Wales Hospital Tottenham badge is supposed to be a cloak badge. I suppose they could be for community staff who certainly still wore hats unto the 1970s but can anyone be more specific?

I will upload a picture of a Gwent badge once it is cleared.

Thanks

My thoughts for what the're worth are as follows, the three places that lugged badges tend to be worn are (1) on headdress, (2) on capes & (3) on outdoor coats - greatcoats, winter warms Etc. I think that the Health Authority badges with lugs tended to be worn by District/Community nurses on there hats.

Thanks Barry,I had thought about the first two but didn't consider outdoor coats.I am pretty sure that caps were still being worn by community staff unto the 70s and early 80s but can't quite be sure when these disappeared? One does wonder what happened to the large volumes of cloaks,uniforms and caps that were scrapped when no longer needed as these don't seem to crop up very often.

 Having won a pair of badges with both a 1939-45 medal and a defence medal ( Not completely sure yet if they are associated or just to the same recipient) I began to think about the issue of these,particularly the defence medal.
I know this was issued to civilian personnel for home service during WW2 but what were the criteria for award when it came to Nurses? Were all civilian nurses eligible,as I don't see that many  in group lots, or were there specific criteria such as emergency hospital work.If anyone knows I would be interested to find out?

Not an easy answer, a definitive list of eligible recipients was published by the M.O.D. in 1992, Form DM1/DM2 and Annexe. This lists 50 different organisations and 90 sub-divisions of eligibe personnel.

A friend gave me a league of Friends badge today with H.R. & C.H. Hospitals on it does anyone know what the initials stand for?

Can we see a picture of it?
Thanks

At a first guess might this be Royal Hampshire County Hospital at Winchester?

Hi,

Barry asked me to post this photo for him. Make sure you are logged in.

Will.