Crested china lighthouse : Lieutenant H F Slocombe, AIF

Small china lighthouse with the 1908 coat of arms of Australia around the main body. The edges and tip of the lighthouse are gilded. On the underside is the text 'SHELLEY CHINA / 73'.

Herbert Frederick Slocombe was born on 4 February 1889. He enlisted in the AIF on the 16 September 1914 and embarked from Melbourne on the 22 December, with the rank of sergeant, on board HMAT Ceramic. When he arrived in England he was assigned to 301 Mechanical Transport Army Service Corps, 17 Division Ammunition Park. On 12 July 1915 he left Avonmouth, in England for Rouen, France, on board SS Saga, arriving on 15 July. He served on the Western Front and as a warrant officer with 4th Ammunition Sub-Park, in July 1917, was awarded a Military Cross for his actions at an ammunition dump which had caught fire at Vlamertinghe, Belgium. He returned to Australia on 9 December 1918. During the Second World War he enlisted again, on 2 April 1940, giving his date of birth as 7 February 1894. He served in Australia until 21 July 1941, when he was discharged.

Crested china collecting became a craze in the Victorian period when tourists bought small ivory coloured porcelain ornaments decorated with the coats of arms of the towns they visited to take home as a souvenir. Before the First World War companies (the most famous and the original being Goss crested china) made collectibles such as vases, plates and other crockery, houses, public buildings, cars and replicas of visitor attractions. During the war the range of souvenirs was expanded to include military caps, equipment and vehicles. Crested china often reflected the interest in new technologies being used in the war, such as recreating tanks, armoured cars and submarines. This piece of china features the 1908 Australian coat of arms, granted by King Edward VII in 1908. This was later superceded by the current coat of arms, granted in 1912 by King George V. The 1908 crest continued to be used in some circumstances and the fact it is used here does not necessarily mean this piece of crested china was made before the First world War.