Three: Cadet Lieutenant-Colonel A. B. Solomon, Jewish Lads’ Brigade, Birmingham Cadet Corps

Defence Medal, in named card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mr. A. B. Solomon, 68 Woodbourne Rd., Edgbaston, Birmingham 17’; Jubilee 1935 (Cadet Lieut-Colonel A. B. Solomon Birmingham Cadet Corps J.L.B.) contemporarily engraved naming; Cadet Forces Medal, G.VI.R. (Cadet Lt Col. A. B. Solomon.) in named card box of issue; together with the recipient’s Birmingham Special Constabulary Long Service Medal 1916, bronze, the reverse engraved ‘A. B. Solomon’; ands a Birmingham Special Constabulary Reserve lapel badge, silvered and enamel, the reverse numbered ‘229’, generally very fine and better (5) £200-£240

The Jewish Lads’ Brigade was founded in 1895 by Albert Edward Goldsmid, a self-declared ‘nationalist Jew’ and the British Chief of ‘Chovevi Zion’. As a Zionist Anglophile, he made a successful career as a staff officer in the British Army. Whilst Colonel at Cardiff, he inspected the local Church Lads’ Brigade and commented that something similar should be arranged for Jewish lads. His aim was to help poor Jewish boys, particularly between the time they left school and the time they could join Jewish Working Mens’ Clubs. A lasting function of the Brigade was to facilitate cultural integration. Members of the Brigade served with distinction in the Boer and First and Second World Wars. In 1974 the Jewish Lads’ Brigade joined with the Jewish Girls’ Brigade to form the ‘Jewish Lads and Girls’ Brigade’.

Archie B. Solomon was the Officer Commanding the Jewish Lads’ Brigade (Birmingham Cadet Corps), which was affiliated to the 5th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

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