Canadian NANAIMO INDEPENDENT COY OF INFANTRY brass cap badge.

The Nanaimo Independent Company of Infantry: Rare Canadian Militia Cap Badge
The brass cap badge shown here is one of the rarest surviving pieces of Canadian militia insignia from the Pacific coast – a tangible remnant of a short-lived but historically significant unit: the Nanaimo Independent Company of Infantry.
At the centre of the badge stands the famous Nanaimo Bastion, the Hudson’s Bay Company blockhouse that had guarded the town’s vital coal operations since the 1850s. Flanking scrolls carry the full unit title: NANAIMO / INDEPENDENT COY OF INFANTRY. It is a single-piece brass striking, retaining its two original lug fastenings to the reverse – a pleasing detail that adds to its integrity and appeal.
Nanaimo and Its Military Importance
Nanaimo was a strategically critical location on the Pacific coast, serving as a key source of coal for the Royal Navy. When British Columbia entered Confederation in 1871, the town had no organised military presence. It was not until 1873 that steps were taken to establish a militia company at Nanaimo as part of a wider effort to give Canada’s westernmost communities some capacity for local defence. The Independent Company was raised from among the town’s population – largely miners and tradesmen – and its role was both to defend against external threat and to support civil authority during the labour unrest that periodically gripped the coalfields.
Into the First World War
When war was declared in 1914, men from the Nanaimo Independent Rifle Company were among those drawn upon to help form the 30th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, a unit authorised on 27 October 1914 that drew volunteers from Vancouver Island and the interior. Over 290 men of the 30th Battalion were killed in action, and the battalion’s honours included a Victoria Cross, awarded to Prince Rupert’s Cy Peck. The battalion served in France and Flanders as part of the 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division, fighting through to the end of the war.
The broader Nanaimo militia tradition continued into the interwar years. A 2nd Battalion of The Canadian Scottish Regiment was established in Nanaimo in 1930 , eventually contributing soldiers through the restructured wartime army into the Second World War.