Name/Title
Special Constabulary King's Crown collar badge c1920s - 1930sEntry/Object ID
150Description
Small metal nickel plated badge consisting of the letters"SC" surmounted by a King's Crown, with a uniform fixing to rear.Use
For use on the collars of special constable's tunics.Context
The Special Constabulary is made up of volunteers who carry out uniform police duties in their own time, and in its current form it dates from The Special Constable's Acts of 1914 and 1923. Until 1914 special constables could only be sworn in for very limited amounts of time if there was the threat of a riot or a serious disturbance and were not uniformed. The threat of war in 1914, and the likelihood that many police officers, being ex soldiers and therefore army reservists, would be "called up" to fight led to concerns that there would be a shortage of officers. To counter this the 1914 Act allowed special constables to be sworn in for the duration of the conflict. The 1923 Act made the temporary arrangement permanent.
With the 1914 Act and longer periods of service special constables were given uniforms for the first time, though in may areas shortages meant that most specials only had proper uniforms towards the end of the war. However by the end of the war and in particular following the 1923 Act, similar uniforms to regular officers were in use, though helmets were not issued to specials, who wore caps. They also worn different rank insignia as the rank structure in the special constabulary is different to that for regular officers.
The type of insignia used by special constables varied from police force to police force. Most forces used the same insignia as full time officers, though some used generic special constabulary insignia and others used special constabulary insignia unique to the particular force in question.
Special constables often had additional insignia to identify them as specials. This usually included an "SC" prefix before their warrant number. In some areas pairs of badges such as the one pictured, with King's Crowns were used on closed collar tunics and attached to either side of the collar along with the officers' number. Such examples with King's Crowns pre date 1952 and the period when special constables either wore open necked tunics or shirt epaulettes, so the one was probably used on the collar of a high necked tunic or cape. Being nickel instead of chrome plated, this particular example is probably an earlier one dating to the 1920s or 1930s.
After 1952 these badges were replaced with very similar ones with a Queen's Crown instead of a King's one.
Chrome badges similar to this were certainly used in West Sussex Constabulary, well into the 1950s, special's often being issued with old or obsolete uniform and insignia, or retaining uniform for much longer periods than regular officers due to less frequent use. Their use elsewhere in Sussex is less well documented from photographs and surviving uniform.
In the modern Sussex Police the only difference in the uniforms of regular and special constables are the format of epaulette letters and numbers, special constables having the "SC" prefix followed by a 4 digit number.