Victorian Engineer Volunteers 25mm white metal Officer’s Button by Firmin & Sons

Victorian Engineer Volunteers large 25mm white metal Officer’s Button by Firmin & Sons
A large Victorian white metal officer’s button to the Engineer Volunteers, the engineer arm of the Victorian Volunteer Force. The face carries the crowned VR cypher (Victoria Regina) with a Tudor rose above and a foliate spray of rose, thistle and shamrock below, surrounded by the legend ENGINEER VOLUNTEERS. The reverse is a brass two-part construction with shank loop, backmarked FIRMIN & SONS LONDON.
The Engineer Volunteers were part-time citizen sappers raised from 1860 onwards as part of the Volunteer Force, the patriotic citizen-soldier movement created after the 1859 French invasion scare. Drawn largely from civil engineers, surveyors, railwaymen and skilled artisans, the various Engineer Volunteer Corps trained in field fortification, pontoon bridging, telegraphy and demolition.