Name/Title
Brighton Police Kings Crown black night helmet plate c1935 - 1952Entry/Object ID
2550Description
Black painted Brunswick star helmet badge, topped with a King's Crown and marked "Brighton Police", with a separate coat of arms centre, also painted black. Where the paint has chipped off reveals the original w/m or chrome plated finish. One of the rear lugs is missing.Use
For a Brighton constable or sergeant to wear on night dutyContext
Brighton Police was the only force in Sussex to consistently use different coloured hemet badges, or plates, for day and night duty. Black painted ones were used at night, the rationale being they would be less visible and alert would be offenders to an officer's presence, and all white metal or chrome plated versions were using during the day. Black badges were used elsewhere in Sussex but mainly for both day and night use. In Brighton night badges were completely black, where normally the removable centres are left chrome plated. In fact, surviving badges show that rather than obtain black badges from manufacturers, Brighton Police simply took w/m or chrome plate ones and painted them black. This practice seems to extend at least as far as the early 1930s when wreath style helmet plates were in use and possibly back even further.
Wreath badges were used in Brighton until 1935 when Brunswick star shaped badges were introduced. So this particular badge dates from then until 1952, when King George VI died and similar badges with Queen's Crowns were used. The chipped paint perfectly illustrates the practice of painting w/m finished badges black.