Enamel Lapel Button GWR Old Contemptibles and 1914-15 Star Association c.1930

A very rare Great Western Railway Old Contemptibles and 1914-15 Star Association lapel button, worn by GWR employees who served with the First World War British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium in 1914

Brass lapel button with enamelled French flag to centre, embossed \"GWR Assocn.\" Blue enamel circle to rim with \"The Old Contemptibles and 1914-15 Star\". Half-moon button fixing to back, stamped \"Birmingham Medal Co., 22 Frederick St.

0.75\" (20mm) diameter. In perfect condition

Old Contemptibles
Contrary to modern belief, a soldier did not become an Old Contemptible simply by virtue of serving in World War One. To earn that title the serviceman had to have been in the British Expeditionary Force, AND present in Belgium or France between the day war was declared, 5th August 1914 and 22nd November 1914.

Legend has it that the Kaiser, in his Headquarters, addressed his Generals on 22nd November in words along the lines of:- \"It is my Royal and Imperial command that you concentrate your energies for the immediate present upon one single purpose, and that is that you address your skill and all the valour of my soldiers to exterminate the treacherous English, and walk over General French\'s contemptibly small army\".

Naturally, being British, the members of General French\'s Expeditionary Force were delighted from then on to adopt the title of \"Old Contemptibles\"

The term though, and membership of their Association, hung on these two dates and the days between. Service after November 1914 nor in other theatres of war at that time period did not count; the Old Contemptible had to have been in France or Belgium between those dates.

A special medal was struck, the 1914 Star, sometimes known as the Mons Star. In 1919 a clasp which bears those dates was struck, this was limited to only those who had come under enemy fire during those days. For the medal ribbon bar, a small rose pin was attached to the ribbon denoting the 1914 Star to signify qualification for the clasp. To many, this medal and clasp was of greater sentimental, and indeed monetary value even, than many bravery awards

The last Old Contemptible, Alfred Anderson, died in 2005, aged 109. The Old Contemptibles Associations (first formed in 1925) had all been disbanded by then.

There were various branches of the \'Old Contemptible\'s and 1914-15 Star Association\' throughout the G.W.R. They met annually right up until nationalisation and presumably beyond while there were enough members still living to keep them going. Mr A Hitchman was chairman of the Swindon branch in 1946 and that year they met at the Frome Hotel. A short silence was held in memory of fallen comrades.

The Birmingham Medal Company were formed in 1921 and employed many disabled ex servicemen (injured in the Great War ). In 1922 they operated out of 58 Vittoria St, 1926 they moved to Summer Hill Terrace, Sandpits, 1930 at 22 Frederick Street, 1939 changed their name to Birmingham Medal and Badge Co, 1944 at 29 & 30 Albion Street, 1963 at 95 Albion Street and the last trace of them is in 1972 at 30 Frederick Street, all in the Jewelry quarter.

The managing Director was Hal (Harold) Stewart Turner (1903 - 1978) who may have been a military man as he had connections to the Ancient Order of Froth Blowers which sprung up in the 1920\'s initially through the armed forces.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of 7 ft (2,134 mm) but, from 1854, a series of amalgamations saw it also operate 4 ft 8 1/2 in (1,435 mm) standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways.

The GWR was called by some \"God\'s Wonderful Railway\" and by others the \"Great Way Round\" but it was famed as the \"Holiday Line\", taking many people to English Channel and Bristol Channel resorts in the West Country and the south-west of Wales such as Torquay, Dartmouth, Minehead and Tenby. The company\'s locomotives, many of which were built in the company\'s workshops at Swindon, were painted a Brunswick green colour while, for most of its existence, it used a two-tone \"chocolate and cream\" livery for its passenger coaches. Goods wagons were painted red but this was later changed to mid-grey.

Great Western trains included long-distance express services such as the Flying Dutchman, the Cornish Riviera Express and the Cheltenham Spa Express. It also operated many suburban and rural services, some operated by steam railmotors or autotrains. The company pioneered the use of larger, more economic goods wagons than were usual in Britain. It operated a network of road motor (bus) routes, was a part of the Railway Air Services, and owned ships, docks and hotels.