Mothers and Widows Badge : Mrs Florrie Black

Accession Number REL41669
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Badge
Physical description Brass, Silk, White metal
Maker Unknown
Place made Australia
Date made c 1919
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Black silk ribbon with woven design, in yellow, red and white, showing wattle sprays, 'Rising Sun' badge and 'FOR AUSTRALIA'. Ribbon is attached at the top to a white metal bar impressed on the front with laurel leaves, and on the back with the serial number '21045'. The back also has a brooch pin fitting. The lower edge of the ribbon is attached to another white metal bar bearing a seven pointed brass star attached with a split pin.

History / Summary

War widow Florrie Black wore this badge in memory of her husband, Driver Charles Black, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 24 June 1918. Introduced in 1919, the Mothers and Widows Badge was issued to the mother and/or widow of all members of the Australian Imperial Force or the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force who had been killed in action, died of wounds or other causes while on active service, or who, after discharge, had died of wounds or sickness directly attributable to that service. Stars were added to the bottom bar, each indicating the death of one person. Over 36 000 badges were produced.

678 Driver Charles Thomas Black, born at Hindmarsh, South Australia, was a 31 year old grocer when he enlisted in the AIF on 27 August 1915. After initial training he was assigned as a driver to the horse transport section of 32 Battalion at the beginning of October.

The battalion sailed from Adelaide aboard HMAT A13 Katuna on 11 November and arrived in Egypt in the middle of December. In June 1916 it transferred to France for service on the Western Front. As a transport driver, Black did not participate directly in the battle of Fromelles on 19 July, in which his battalion suffered 718 casualties, nearly 90 per cent of its fighting strength, or in the battle of Polygon Wood in 1917.

On 24 June 1918 Black was a member of a party sent to collect rations from the 8th Brigade's supply dump when he, and 15 others, were killed by a large bomb dropped by a German aircraft. Black was initially buried at the Vaux-sur-Somme Communal Cemetery Extension. In 1920 his body was exhumed and reinterred at the Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery.