WW2 Home Front - Bowlit Brand Chrome and Enamel Lapel Pin Badge Brooch

A very interesting badge dating from the second world war era when the company made helmets for the war department. It all began with a mechanic in East London. His name was Charles Owen. To escape acute poverty, Charles attended night classes to learn about hat making. In 1911, he made his first tropical pith helmet and started the Bowbilt brand. The early days revolved around manufacturing military helmets which were worn by the British Army throughout the First World War. After the war ended the company expanded into motorsport protective headwear. Charles Owen passed away in 1932, leaving his wife Francis his daughter Zena to run the family business throughout the Second World War making hardware for the British Army and RAF.
Zena married a Polish man called Walter Burek in 1946. Walter had escaped a prisoner of war camp and managed to get to the UK during the war. From here on in he ran the company and the Bowbilt Brand name was dropped and the company reverted to the name of its founder Charles Owen Helmets.
This badge is in perfect condition and worn by the factory workers during the war. An interesting badge seldom seen. It measures circa 45 mm wide.

See:
https://www.charlesowen.com/our-story
(The above link does not mention Bowlit directly, but this badge mark can be seen in adverts for pith helmets and they even had a range called the "Bowlit Racer").

K14.3

Code: 66936