Silver War Badge belonging to 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, World War I

Silver War Badge awarded to Vernon Henry St.John, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke in 1918. It is inscribed For King and Empire - Services Rendered.

Silver War Badges were issued in the United Kingdom and the British Empire to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness from military service in World War I. Vernon received his Honourable Discharge following a period of several months in the Kitchener Military Hospital in Brighton where he was suffering from shell shock.

Vernon also received two Campaign Medals in recognition of his military service which included fighting through the horrors of Passchendaele in the Autumn of 1917 and facing the German spring offensive on the Somme in 1918.

The badge is part of a collection of WWI military badges and mementos which Vernon kept throughout his life. The collection has been generously donated to The Friends of Lydiard Park by a private donor in 2023

See Items of Interest World War I Campaign Medals