17th (Northern) Division WW1 Cloth Formation Sign Badge.

17th (Northern) Div WWI cloth formation sign patch.

c1914-19. Good rare red felt rectangle embroidered with white dot and dash (morse code) representing the top of the numerals 17.
Removed from uniform with service wear.

Came with an East Yorkshire (Yorks) brass shoulder title on 'electrical' round shaped loops with backing plate and an unusual cross (French?) stylised pin (bent). So, I am keeping all together.

The 17th (Northern) Division was created under Northern Command in September 1914, just a month after the British entry into the Great War, from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies. Most of the volunteers had had little prior military experience. Worsening the situation was an acute lack of experienced officers and NCOs to train the new men.

The division, commanded by Major General Walter Kenyon-Slaney, part of Kitchener's Second New Army (K2), concentrated throughout Dorset for training, moving to Hampshire in late May 1915. In early July the division sent advance parties to France in preparation for a move overseas, the rest of the division following a week later, moving to Saint-Omer for concentration. The Division was to remain on the Western Front for the rest of the war. Most of 1915 being spent in the southern sector of the Ypres Salient.

VC Winners of the 17th Div:

Sergeant Harold Colley, 10th (Service) Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.

Private Tom Dresser, 7th (Service) Battalion, Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment).

Sergeant Harold Jackson, 7th (Service) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.

Corporal Frank Lester, 10th (Service) Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.

Code: 104