Badge

“ Then all of us, as a sign of our covenant and our allegiance, will wear a badge which has been prepared. The badge can be worn—like the written Law of our God, as commanded by our father Moses, 'as a sign upon our hand, or as a frontlet between our eyes—.'
"Many millions of the badges have been prepared, made in white metal for free distribution to the poorest of the world, or jewelled, gold or silver, for those who would fain purchase something more in accordance with their rank, station, or wealth. The time is at hand when no one will be able to buy or sell, save he who wears this sign." ”

“ Lord Hastings bore as badge a black bull's head erased, gorged with a coronet; Lord Stanley, a golden griffin's leg, erased; Lord Howard, a white lion charged on the shoulder with a blue crescent; Sir Richard Dunstable adopted a white cock as a badge ”

“ So great and extensive at one period was the use of these badges, that they were far more generally employed than either arms or crest, and whilst the knowledge of a man's badge or badges would be everyday knowledge and common repute throughout the kingdom, few people would know that man's crest, fewer still would ever have seen it worn.
It is merely an exaggeration of the difficulty that we are always in uncertainty whether any given device was merely a piece of decoration borrowed from the arms or crest, or whether it had continued usage as a badge. ”

“ There can be little if any connection between the war-cry as such and the motto as such. The real origin would appear to be more correctly traced back to the badge. As will be found explained elsewhere, the badge was some simple device used for personal and household purposes and seldom for war, except by persons who used the badge of the leader they followed. No man wore his own badge in battle. ”

“ For instance, we have given a series of good conduct badges; that for the non-commissioned officer is of gold lace on blue cloth, that for the Private in the Cavalry, Artillery, and Engineers of yellow braid on blue cloth, that for the Private in the Infantry white braid on red cloth, whilst the badge for the Army Hospital Corps is a cross of red cloth on a white ground and placed on blue cloth. ”

“ A Badge, like a Coat of Arms, is an armorial ensign that is complete in itself, and possesses a definite signification of its own. In use with a decided heraldic significance long before the adoption of systematic Heraldry, Badges have always held a conspicuous position in the estimation of Heralds. ”

“ Your badge is the Cross-keys within the Star, an emblem of security, admonishing you to the strictest fidelity in the discharge of your important trust, that the Chapter may not be embarrassed in its efforts to relieve the distressed and meet its necessary expenses. ”

“ ENSIGN (through the Fr. enseigne from the Latin plural insignia) , a distinguishing token, emblem or badge such as symbols of office, or in heraldry, the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet or mitre borne above the charge or arms. The word is more particularly used of a military or naval standard or banner. In the British navy, ensign has a specific meaning, and is the name of a flag having a red, white or blue ground, with the Union Jack in the upper corner next the staff. ”

“ Badges.—The badge may claim a greater antiquity and a wider use than armorial bearings. The “Plantagenet” broom is an early example in England, sprigs of it being figured on the seal of Richard I. In the 14th and 15th centuries every magnate had his badge, which he displayed on his horse-furniture, on the hangings of his bed, his wall and his chair of state, besides giving it as a “livery” to his servants and followers. ”

“ Some families, as has already been observed, have no crests; a still greater number have no mottoes; and supporters belong to an exclusive few. Badges are still more unusual, and in modern times it would perhaps be a matter of difficulty to enumerate twenty families who use them.
Badge, in its ordinary acceptation, signifies the mark or token of any thing; thus we are accustomed to call fetters the badge of slavery, and a plain gold ring the badge of matrimony; and thus in a figurative, or moral sense, Shakspeare says,
“Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge.” ”

“ If these are badges, then badges go back to an earlier date than arms. Such devices occur many centuries before such a thing as a shield of arms existed.
The Heraldic Badge, as we know it, came into general use about the reign of Edward III., that is, the heraldic badge as a separate matter having a distinct existence in addition to concurrent arms, and having at the same time a distinctly heraldic character. But long before that date, badges are found with an allied reference to a particular person, which very possibly are rightly included in any enumeration of badges. ”

“ Difference between Crests and Badges; Examples of Badges; The Ostrich-Feather Badge; The White Hart, etc.; Introduction of Badges into Heraldry; Their Prevalence; Allusive Badges; Badges of obscure Origin; Knots and Badges; The Rebus.
Closely allied with crests, but borne and used in an entirely different way, are the devices called badges. ”

“ Everything up to date turns on the question of the badge. Let me reconstruct a possible—only possible, mark you—story, based on the supposition that my badge theory is correct. A German who speaks English perfectly is given a nice warm uniform taken from a captured British officer. Then he is told to go over to the British lines and see what he can find out. He comes one night; perfectly easy; no trouble; until walking along the front line he meets another officer—alone: an officer of the same regiment as that whose uniform he is wearing. ”

“ This, however, is a point upon which there is no definite warrant of instruction, and is not the conclusion justifiable that on this matter the officers of arms have been led into a mistake in their general practice by an oversight and possible unfamiliarity with the actual star? A Knight Grand Commander is entitled to claim a grant of supporters on payment of the fees. A Knight Commander encircles his shield with the circlet of the order and hangs his badge from a ribbon below, a Companion of the Order simply hangs the badge he wears below his shield. ”

“ The badge of the society is a shield with concavely-curved sides, displaying at the top a pair of clasped hands, in the centre the letters "ΑΚΦ," and, below, a chain of three links encircling the letters "ααπ." ”

“ Badges are most usually met with in stained glass upon roundels of some colour or colours, and though one would hesitate to assert it as an actual fact, there are many instances which would lead one to suppose that the background of a badge was usually the livery colour or colours of its then owner, or of the family from which it was originally inherited. Certain is it that there are very few contemporary instances of badges which, when emblazoned, are not upon the known livery colours ”

“ Nay, we must carry our condemnation to an even greater extreme. The man who on public occasions covers his breast with decorations, the insignia of orders, the badges of high service or of mere distinction such as results from possession of the badge, is guilty of immodesty. ”

“ But those also who went through the same fields, and returned alive, put just as much at hazard as those who died, and, in other countries, would wear distinctive badges of honor as long as they lived. I hope the disuse of such medals or badges in this country only signifies that everybody knows these men, and carries their deeds in such lively remembrance that they require no badge or reminder. ”

“ Its badge is not known to me; it consists of young married men, and the number is not limited. (3) The prairie dogs. This is a police union, which receives married men; its badge is a long hooked stick wound round with otter skin, with knots of white skin at intervals, and a couple of eagle’s feathers hanging from each of them. (4) Those who carry the raven. Its badge is a long staff covered with red cloth, to which black ravens’ feathers in a long thick row are fastened from one end to the other. They contribute to the preservation of order and the police. (5) The buffalo, with thin horns. ”

“ Every Girl Scout throughout the whole world when she sees the thanks badge, recognizes that the person who wears it is a friend and it is her duty to salute and ask if she can be of service to the wearer of the badge. ”

“ Consequently the motto from the badge became attached to the crest, and was thence transferred to its present connection with the coat of arms. Just as at the present time a man may and often does adopt a maxim upon which he will model his life, some pithy proverb, or some trite observation, without any question or reference to armorial bearings—so, in the old days, when learning was less diffuse and when proverbs and sayings had a wider acceptance and vogue than at present, did many families and many men adopt for their use some form of words. ”

“ The British Army increased its French vocabulary by these two words in the course of its triumphal progress from the sea coast to the interior through villages en fête, where the peasants loaded the troops with good things of every description, asking only in return a badge as a souvenir. That is why most of our men went into action badgeless, and the giving away of badges [Pg 128] had to be prohibited. ”

“ In those regiments which bear any ancient badge, the badge is to be on a red ground in the centre. The territorial designation, if practicable, to be inscribed on a circle within the union wreath of roses, thistles, and shamrocks, and the Royal or other title in an escroll underneath, the whole ensigned with the Imperial crown. ”

“ Medals are seldom so shown. Knights Commanders of Orders of Knighthood usually, in addition, surround their coats-of-arms with the ribbon and motto of their senior Order. From this ribbon may depend the badges of all the Orders to which the Knight belongs. Knights Grand Cross may further surround their coats-of-arms with the collars of any or all the Orders having collars to which they belong, the badge of each depending from its proper collar. When several collars are shown they are sometimes halved, each badge always being so arranged as to hang from a link of its own collar. ”

“ Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled: That all who served as officers, non-commissioned officers, privates, or other enlisted men, in the regular army, volunteer, or militia forces of the United States, during the war of the Rebellion, and have been honorably discharged from the service or remain still in the same, shall be entitled to wear, on occasions of ceremony, the distinctive army badge ordered for or adopted by the army corps or division, respectively, in which they served. ”

“ We know that there is no test, however absurd, by which, if a title or decoration, a public badge or mark, were to be won by it, some weakly suggestible or hauntable persons would not feel challenged, and remain unhappy if they went without it. ”

“ With the exception of the second badge, which is on a striped background of green and white, all the party backgrounds are party per pale, which was the most usual way of depicting a livery in the few records which have come down to us of the heraldic use of livery colours, and of the eighteen badges, no less than eight are upon a parti-coloured field of which the dexter is sable and the sinister gules. ”

“ The badge was only a rosette made of narrow ribbons, stitched in tiny loops into the form of a daisy, with [Pg 122] a yellow disk, and white and pink outer rays. If meant very much, however, to the recipient, who knew that her name would be handed down to posterity in the school traditions, and every girl was immensely keen to earn it. ”

“ The decoration consisted of a striking oval badge: the edge was a silver oak wreath, whilst the royal cypher and crown, in outline, filled the centre. A green ribbon was provided with a silver bar flanking its topmost edge.
Two years after the officers' decoration received sanction a similar award, known as the "Volunteer Long Service Medal," was provided primarily for the men. ”

“ The government is in the hands of an executive council and of the annual conventions, which are held with the chapters in turn. The badge is a diamond-shaped pin about an inch in length, displaying upon a background of black enamel the emblem of two clasped hands, with “Ψ” above and “Υ” below. Sometimes, though seldom, a monogram pin is worn. ”

“ A Grand Cross of the Bath wears a robe of red silk with the badge of the Order embroidered on the left side, and the collar of the Order. He also alone wears the broad riband across his chest with 204the badge at the tie, and a special Star. A Knight Commander wears a smaller star on the left side of his coat, and the insignia of the Order round his neck. A Companion wears only the insignia, of a smaller size, round his neck. ”

“ WHEREAS General George Washington, at Newburg-on-the-Hudson, on August 7,1782, during the War of the Revolution, issued an Order establishing the Honorary Badge of Distinction, otherwise known as the Badge of Military Merit or Decoration of the Purple Heart ”

“ It will be seen that the badges on the cuffs indicate a higher rank than when placed on the arm above the elbow: thus for Brigade Sergeant-Major and Orderly Room Sergeant the badge is the same; but one is on the cuff, the other above the elbow.
A man whose conduct has been good, and who has not received any punishment for a certain period, is granted a good conduct badge, which entitles him to one penny a day. Some Soldiers have three or four of these on their arm, but to distinguish these men from Sergeants, the peak of the badge points upwards, whereas that of the Sergeants, &c. ”