Silver War Badge - Issued Numbers

Issued Numbers

Approximately 1,150,000 badges were issued, which had to be claimed and then approved, generally covered by §(xvi) above. The numbers on the back of the badge kept changing during the war.

• Between September 1916 and March 1918, they were issued with just a number and were better quality than most stampings. Around 335,000 of these were issued.
• Between March 1918 and September 1918, these were the second series. This took the number of badges issued up to 450,000.
• Between September 1918 and December 1919, they had a 'B' prefix before the number. Around 450,000 of these were issued.
• Between December 1919 and January 1920, they had a 'O' prefix, around 5,000 of these were issued.
• Between January 1920 and March 1992, they went back to ordinary numbers again. Around 70,000 badges were issued.
• After April 1918 there were several changes;
  • RAF men were issued with badges prefixed with RAF, over 10,000 badges were issued.
  • The Royal Navy had a separate prefix, which was 'RN', there were at least 43,000 badges issued.
  • After this date it became possible for servicemen, civilians who served in the RAMC, female nurses, VADs, QMAAC staff, etc. to get awarded the silver war badge.