Doing Their Bit, Home Front Lapel Badges 1939-1945 Book Review

Published back in 2012, John Mills book ‘Doing Their Bit, Home Front Lapel Badges 1939-1945’, has been a volume I have been meaning to add to my reference collection for a while. I have now bought myself a copy and settled down for an enjoyable few hours of reading. The book is sold on the basis of having more than 600 wartime lapel badges photographed and displayed within it. This however does the book a disservice as there is far more to it than just pictures of badges.The book is divided up into chapters dealing with different aspects of life on the Home Front, with detailed descriptions of a myriad of local and nationally organised bodies. What really comes across is how dense and all encroaching the level of different war related services was. Besides the obvious ARP, fire and emergency services there are bodies involved in knitting comforts, collecting salvage, protecting animals, organising entertainment and many more. Most of these bodies issued lapel badges in lieu of uniform and many are illustrated in this bookThe photographs are well produced and the detail is excellent, relevant paper ephemera is include to accompany the badges and I have learnt much from this volume. The book is not without its faults however, there is a section on one of the major badge producers Fatorrini of Birmingham, but I would have liked a little more context on the badges themselves, perhaps something on the manufacturing process, how they were designed etc. This section seemed the most abrupt, however this might just be down to a lack of surviving evidence to allow the story to be told.The badges themselves are each labelled with an easy to follow key that relates directly to the text. Whilst 75% of them have been positively identified, a few are still mysteries and I was pleased that the author included them, even if he had to note that it was unclear who had originally issued them An essential feature of any reference book is a good index, and this one is well designed, making it easy to find an individual badge or type of badge. The book is produced on glossy paper with a feeling of being a quality reference book and consequently the book comes in with a hefty price tag of £45. This must be put in context however- this is a specialist book with high production values and deals are available on Amazon here and other sites that bring the price down to under £30 with careful shopping.

I cannot hesitate to recommend this book to all with an interest in either collecting lapel badges or a more general interest in the minutiae of the British Home Front in World War II.