Material: Gilding metal
Size: 45 mm W × 35 mm H
Description: This original British army insignia belongs to the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The badge is struck from a single piece of gilding metal brass and features a highly detailed, profile view of a 9-pounder rifled muzzle-loading field artillery gun resting on a textured grassy ground line. Crowned at the very top is a Tudor King's Crown, which sits directly on an arched upper scroll bearing the single Latin word "UBIQUE". The artillery cannon wheel is rendered with a fully pierced, openwork center showing twelve fine spokes and a raised central hub plate. Spanning across the lower baseline is a three-part ribbon scroll displaying the secondary regiment motto "QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT" in crisp, raised block lettering.
Reverse: This view reveals the unusual, highly specific mechanical reverse configuration of the Royal Artillery beret insignia. Struck in solid gilding metal brass, the back contains a long, flat central vertical slider plate alongside two distinct copper wire loops, known as lugs, fixed directly behind the outer edges of the lower ribbon scrolls. This hybrid layout was engineered to serve as a high-stability anchoring solution for fabric headwear, preventing the heavy metal piece from flopping forward or rotating when pinned into the soft wool knit of a military beret. The surface of the central prong is deeply and crisply machine-stamped with the manufacturer name "DOWLER BIRMINGHAM" in a clean, sans-serif industrial font
Circa: 1902-1952
Notes:
The specific design elements on this badge carry profound historical significance for the artillery units. The primary motto "Ubique" translates to "Everywhere," a unique distinction granted by King William IV in 1833 because the regiment had seen active combat across the entire globe, eliminating their need for individual battle honor scrolls. The lower motto translates directly to "Whither Right and Glory Lead". Because this piece features the distinct Tudor Crown (characterized by its rounded, domed top arch), it can be securely dated to the reign of King George VI, spanning the entirety of the Second World War up until his death in 1952 when the crown style transitioned to the Queen's St. Edward's Crown.
The inclusion of the Dowler maker mark on the reverse slider makes this a fantastic reference piece for militaria catalogers. William Dowler & Sons was an elite, historic button and insignia manufacturer located in Birmingham's iconic Jewellery Quarter. Authentic period-issued Royal Artillery badges from the World War II era frequently feature the wheels engineered to spin freely on a central pin rivet, but the single-piece solid strike with a factory-fixed, non-turning wheel shown here represents a standard wartime economy pattern streamlined to speed up factory output during the height of the military mobilization push.