Bronze Shooting Award Badge 5th Battalion 1929

This is a cast bronze badge with Union Rose superimposed on a pair of crossed rifles and surmounted by a Coronet.  Beneath the Rose is a plaque with the date of the award (1929) and a scroll with the words ‘5th Batt The York and Lancaster Regiment’.  The badge is on ‘D’ shaped loops and was worn on the arm of the tunic or jacket.

Throughout the 1920’s, the 5th Battalion carried out their annual shooting competitions at the Cudworth ranges in Barnsley.  Each year a series of awards were made for various categories of competition including ‘Highest score for a trained man’ (for which the badge was the same pattern but made of silver) and ‘Highest score for a recruit’ (for which the badge was made of bronze).

For the year relating to this particular badge, the silver badge was won by CSM Barker of B Coy (Rotherham) and the bronze badge was won by Pte Watts of D Coy (Wath). 23

Not only is the badge unique as it is the only one was ever made, it is most unusual for any badge to be attributed with certainty to an individual.

In the Tiger and Rose, (the journal of the York and Lancaster Regiment) of Sept 1929, page 866, there is an article reporting on the annual shooting competition for the 5th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment at the rifle ranges at Cudworth in Barnsley. This gives details of which soldiers won the various shooting matches.