Female Relative Badge – World War 1 – 4 Bars

Description

Description: Female Relative Badge – World War 1 – Four Bars

Maker’s Name: McLean and Co Melb

Condition: Very Good

Comments: Female Relative Badge – World War 1 – Four Bars. No. 23845

Female Relatives Badges were issued to the wife and/or mother (or nearest female relative) of those on active service overseas during the First and Second World Wars.

Department of Defence Female Relatives Badge, First World War. The badge reads “Issued by the Department of Defence. To women of Australia. For duty done”.

There were two badges issued during the First World War. One was issued to the nearest female relative of soldiers, airmen, nurses and masseuses who left Australia for active service abroad; the other to the nearest female relative of members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) who had enlisted for general naval sea service for at least a period of the war, and who actually performed service outside Australian waters. A bar was suspended below the badge to indicate additional relatives involved in the war effort. The Female Relatives Badge was promulgated under Military Order 280 of 1917 and superseded by Military Order 1818 of 1918.

Four bar versions are rare.