Name/Title
East Sussex Constabulary collar or epaulette badges c1950-1967Entry/Object ID
2355Description
A pair of East Sussex Constabulary nickel plated collar or epaulette badges consisting of a shield containing six Martlet birds topped with a crown symbol. To the rear of each are two lug fixings and a split pin.Use
For either attaching to an East Sussex Constabulary officer's collar or epaulettes.Context
When male police officers wore closed neck tunics, they usually had their warrant numbers displayed on their collars, which is why warrant numbers are often referred to as "collar numbers". It was also common for police forces to also have badges displayed on the collars of these tunics in pairs, along with the officer's number.
In East Sussex Constabulary shield badges such as those here, were worn on the collars of closed neck tunics, one each side. However in 1951 an open necked tunic was adopted by the force and the previous collar badges, were retained but now worn along with the officer's number, on tunic epaulettes and those on shirts. Consequently these particular badges could either be from a tunic collar or epaulettes. Given the source, they probably date from the 1950's or 1960's.
Between 1921 and 1936 officers in East Sussex Constabulary also wore a very similar if not identical badge on their caps, which was replaced by more generic circular badge topped with a King's crown, with a shield coat of arms centre.