WW1 CEF 203rd Winnipeg Rifles sweetheart made by Birks.

High quality sweetheart badge made by BIRKS. In great condition.

The battalion was officially authorized on 15 July 1916 as the “203rd Overseas Battalion, CEF.”
• It was based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and recruited locally during the winter of 1915–16, drawing heavily from men associated with the Winnipeg Rifles regiment (the “Little Black Devils”)
• Contemporary accounts describe it as a temperance battalion, raising 32 officers and 956 other ranks, so it had a strong “dry”/no‑alcohol character which was used as a recruiting appeal.[wartimecanada]
Overseas service in the Great War
• The unit mobilised in Winnipeg and embarked from Halifax on 26 October 1916 aboard the troopship Grampian, disembarking in the UK on 5 November 1916.[wartimecanada]
• Once in Britain, like many higher‑numbered CEF battalions it did not fight as a formed battalion in France; instead it became a reinforcement pool.
• On 2 January 1917 its personnel were absorbed into the 18th Reserve Battalion in the UK to provide drafts to front‑line CEF infantry battalions in the field.
• The 203rd Battalion was then formally disbanded on 15 September 1917.