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On May 14 the Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, had made his appeal to the nation, and thus the Local Defence Volunters were born.No badges have been found for this force, though of course, their only 'uniform' the LDV armband remains.
By the 23rd July, only seventy days later, this force had been renamed the Home Guard.
Often in the first weeks these were the only uniforms of members of this force. As uniforms began to appear, so did the lapel badges to identify members when out of uniform.
All of the above badges were designed by civilians and made by commercial manufacturers as no official badges were designed. From the beginning many women wanted to join the Home Guard, but it was not until April 1943 that they were 'officially' allowed to join although in a non-combatant role. No uniform was issued for these Home Guard Auxiliaries, but the official recognition was the issue of a brooch badge in a plastic material from July 1943
The following badge, though bearing the initials HG, is probably a post-war issue to the revived Home Guard of the1950s.
The force remained in existence until it was 'stood down' in December 1944, 'Old Comrades Clubs' were soon formed.
Copyright © 2002 Peter N. Risbey.
