A First World War Good Luck Token

During renovation of an old house in Tonbridge, Mr Keith Bristow discovered a medal or token wrapped in a piece of cloth and wedged between two exposed beams. The medal is 2.5cm in diameter. On one side is the regimental crest and motto of the Royal Fusiliers with below it ‘Sportsman’s Division’ and the number 1242. Beside it is the coat of arms of the Cunliffe-Owen family. On the reverse, in a facsimile of handwriting, is the message ‘from (? Cunliffe-Owen (Christian name undeciphered but it appears to be an abbreviation) Oct. 1914. God guard you’.

Research by Mr Simon Grieve at the Tower of London found that this medal was a good luck token donated by Mrs Cunliffe-Owen, a wealthy philanthropist. Little is known about the family but it appears that stirred by patriotic fever, Mrs Cunliffe-Owen presented these medals to the brave men who signed up for The 23rd Battalion The Royal Fusiliers, The Sportsman’s Battalion. The reference on the medal to the ‘Sportsman’s Division’ is her mistake.

The recruiting centre was The Cecil Hotel in London, and it is thought that the number ‘1242’ refers to the numerical position of the recruit on joining and not to the army number. The medal would have been provided with a blue and red ribbon to hang round the neck.

Though these medals are not intrinsically valuable there are few in circulation and The Royal Fusiliers’ Museum reports that it has only ‘one or two’. In this case the good luck charm seems to have been effective and the soldier, whoever he was, returned safely, bringing his medal back to Tonbridge.