I was fascinated by the medals Father Brown wears in several episodes so I decided to try and dig up some information about his service which I thought I’d share what I found out with everyone. A big thank you to @f-brown for helping me and for the amazing screencaps!
The good Father has mentioned in the show that he was 17 in Flanders serving with the Gloster Regiment which means he joined up underage and doesn’t hide this fact at least later in life. This was a huge problem in the early days of the first world war and most turned a blind eye to it for several reasons. Here is link to a BBC article about it if you want more information. X
The three worn in the show are often called the Great War Trio.
The first one (left to right) is either a 1914 star (or Mons Star as it is referred) which was given to those who served in France or Belgium between 5 August and midnight of 22–23 November 1914. The former date is the day after Britain’s declaration of war against the Central Powers and the closing date marks the end of the First Battle of Ypres. The majority of recipients were officers and men of the pre-war British army, specifically the British Expeditionary Force, also known as the Old Contemptibles, who landed in France soon after the outbreak of the War and who took part in the Retreat from Mons, hence the medal’s nickname “Mons Star”.
But it is more than likely a 1914-1915 star which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who served against the Central European Powers in any theatre of the Great War between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915 before the Conscription Act of 1916 took effect. The fact he has a star at all means he joined voluntarily despite being underage at the time.
The next is a British War Medal which was awarded to all officers and men of British and Imperial forces who had served for a prescribed period during any stage of the war, or who had died on active service before the completion of this period.
I should also note that on a few occasions this medal is worn incorrectly by Father Brown because the reverse side with Saint George naked on horseback and armed with a short sword is what is usually seen in close up shots instead of the front side depicting the head of King George V. Now I can’t say if this is done on purpose by the character or if it was a mistake by the crew but it is an interesting quirk just the same.
Lastly is the Victory Medal which was issued to all those who received the 1914 Star or the 1914-1915 Star, and to most of those who were awarded the British War Medal. So it is possible not to have all three and to not complete the trio but that isn’t the case here.
Having all three likely means that Father Brown served a good amount of time of in the war in the trenches and possibly took part in some of the bloodiest battles on the Western Front and came out of them alive. It isn’t any wonder as to why he took up the cassock and collar afterwards.
Here is some links to information on WW1 chaplains too because I’m sure there was some influence there too: X X X X
Let’s us end on a brighter note: Pip, Squeak and Wilfred are the affectionate names given to the three WW1 campaign medals — The 1914 Star or 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal respectively.
When the WW1 medals were issued in the 1920’s it coincided with a popular comic strip published by the Daily Mirror newspaper. It was written by Bertram J. Lamb (Uncle Dick), and drawn by the cartoonist Austin Bowen Payne (A.B. Payne). Pip was the dog, Squeak the penguin and Wilfred the young rabbit. It is believed that A. B. Payne’s batman during the war had been nicknamed “Pip-squeak” and this is where the idea for the names of the dog and penguin came from. For some reason the three names of the characters became associated with the three campaign medals being issued at that time to many thousands of returning servicemen, and they stuck.
Now just picture Father Brown mislaying one or all of these medals and hurriedly asking if anyone has seen Pip, Squeak or Wilfred anywhere and Bunty or someone who isn’t aware of the nicknames just looking at him all confused and concerned.
(Please note this is all from my own research and if something is wrong or you have some other information that you would like to contribute to this post please feel free to add it ^-^)
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