Original British WWI Leather Belt in Embroidered Trench Art Sleeve with Welsh Regiment Badge Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a lovely example of WWI British Trench art, in the form of an embroidered sleeve for a leather belt. It has 8 panels in total, including one that reads FRANCE 1916-7-8, indicating where the soldier was serving, and presumably where the belt was made. The other panels include decorations, what looks to be a dog or cat, a Naval Anchor, a butterfly, a battleship, and a yellow panel with a red swas surrounded by tiny red crosses. It should be noted that this is a “left-facing” type used throughout Asia, not the “right facing” type later used by the NSDAP. In the center of the belt is a larger panel with the flags of the 6 Allied / Entente nations (though they are not entirely correct): Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States.

The belt measures about 37 inches long and is 1 3/4 inches wide, with a plated steel buckle on the end. The attached embroidered sleeve measures about 26 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, and is tack stitched to the belt at the ends.

Next to the buckle is a regimental brass cap badge for the British Welsh Regiment, which shows the three ostrich feathers of the Prince of Wales going through a crown, with a banner reading ICH DIEN (“I Serve”), the motto of the Prince of Wales. Under this is another banner reading THE WELSH, which shows that it was made before 1920, when the name was changed to the archaic “Welch”.

An extremely impressive item that took a lot of time in the trenches to produce! Ready to research and display!

Trench art is any decorative item made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians where the manufacture is directly linked to armed conflict or its consequences. It offers an insight not only to their feelings and emotions about the war, but also their surroundings and the materials they had available to them.

Not limited to the World Wars, the history of trench art spans conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the present day. Although the practice flourished during World War I, the term ‘trench art’ is also used to describe souvenirs manufactured by service personnel during World War II. Some items manufactured by soldiers, prisoners of war or civilians during earlier conflicts have been retrospectively described as trench art. There is much evidence to prove that some trench art was made in the trenches, by soldiers, during war.

In With a Machine Gun to Cambrai, George Coppard tells of pressing his uniform buttons into the clay floor of his trench, then pouring molten lead from shrapnel into the impressions to cast replicas of the regimental crest. Chalk carvings were also popular, with contemporary postcards showing carvings in the rocky outcrops of dug-outs. Many smaller items such as rings and knives were made by soldiers either in front line or support trenches, especially in quieter parts of the line.

Wounded soldiers were encouraged to work at crafts as part of their recuperation, with embroidery and simple forms of woodwork being common. Again from With a Machine Gun to Cambrai, George Coppard recalls that, while recuperating from wounds at a private house in Birkenhead, “one kind old lady brought a supply of coloured silks and canvas and instructed us in the art of embroidery. A sampler which I produced under her guidance so pleased her that she had it framed for me.”

An example of therapeutic embroidery during World War I is the work of British military in Egypt, who were photographed sewing and embroidering for Syrian refugees. There was also the Bradford Khaki Handicrafts Club, which was funded in Bradford, UK, in 1918, to provide occupational therapy and employment for men returning from the trenches in France.