WW1/2 London Association Canadian Ex-Servicemen enamel lapel badge.

A striking enamel lapel badge made by Thomas Fattorini and issued by the London Association of Canadian Ex-Servicemen, featuring a coloured maple leaf and bold lettering. A rare link between Canadian veterans and London during WW1 & WW2.

After the First World War and again after the Second World War, thousands of Canadian servicemen spent time in the UK: in training, on leave, during demobilisation or as settlers. In London they found camaraderie, welfare support and a place to meet other former Canadian servicemen and their families. Associations such as LACES provided a social centre, access to support networks and a home-base away from Canada.

Although the precise official address of the club or meeting rooms for LACES has not been definitively located in the surviving records, many Canadian veteran organisations in London met in the late 1940s–1950s in the vicinity of central London veterans’ clubs and military-social clubs near Westminster, Whitehall and the embassies. Given the Canadian connection, it is likely that LACES held meetings in a venue convenient to the Canadian High Commission area of London (for example the area around Canada House, Trafalgar Square) or within London’s military veterans’ club network.