A Cumberland Miner's Association Badge
This enamelled button hole type membership badge was issued by the Cumberland Miner's Association sometime during the first half of the twentieth century. It is not clear if this association, founded in 1872, drew its membership from both West Cumberland's coal and ironstone mining communities. A Cumberland Coal Miners' Association is also known.
Earlier issued Cumberland Miners' Association badges from various miners' lodges are known but these take the form of simple metallic discs with two piercings to facilitate attachment (i.e. via being sewn on) to their owners' jackets lapels or caps. The button hole type badge (both enamelled and plain types) represents the natural and final stage in evolution of these earlier sewn on type checks/badges and hence are here separately categoriser. For more information about earlier examples of miners' association checks/badges referrence should be made to elsewhere on this web site (see "Introduction to Mining Paranumismatics - Part II" plus article on "In Search of Mr. Cresswell and the Derbyshire & Leicestershire Miners' Association.").
Actual badge measures 26 mm diameter and has a button hole attachment on its reverse. Also on its reverse is the maker's name Fattorini of Birmingham (picture courtesy of John Soppitt).