Name/Title
Hastings Police black painted Brunswick Star helmet plate 1936 - 1952Entry/Object ID
2558Description
Black painted King's Crown Brunswick star helmet plate, marked "Borough of Hastings Police" missing its chrome plated or white metal coat of arms centre.Use
For use on a constable's or sergeant's helmetContext
This particular badge is missing its chrome plated or white metal coat of arms centre which would have been in the shape of a shield. When it first came to the museum it had been painted with yellow paint and was fitted to a Hastings Police helmet (item 2552). It had been used as a child's dressing up item by the family of Angus Cargill who was the chief constable of Hastings from 1942 until 1954. The badge has since been cleaned and repainted its original colour.
Hastings Police used a variety of helmet badges and combinations of different coloured ones during the 20th century. Until 1936 wreath badges were worn, black ones with white metal or chrome centres for constables and all white metal or chrome versions for sergeants. In 1936 Brunswick star type badges were introduced, black ones like this together with all white metal or chrome versions. It is thought that the same badges were worn by both constables and sergeants, and the different colours may have initially been for night and day use respectively. However as photographs exist of black ones being worn other than at night, the use of chrome versions may have been limited, or restricted to just the summer months.
Following the death of George VI in 1952 a very similar black painted badge to this, but with a Queen's Crown was adopted for both day and night use. However it was discovered that the shape of the shield traditionally used on badges by Hasting's Police was wrong. This led to the introduction of a new badge, the same as the previous Queen's Crown one but with a different shaped shield in the centre. As before black versions were used for both day and night duty, until December 1958 (Hastings and St. Leonards Observer 27/12/58 page 6) when an all chrome version was adopted for both day and night use. This was used until the creation of Sussex Constabulary in 1968.