Original British WWI KIA Death Penny Soldier Memorial - George Wallington Brownee
Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely WWI Memorial Plaque commemorating the life and service of George Wallington Brownee, a British soldier who fell on an unknown battlefield with an unknown unit. We have not been able to locate any service information on this soldier. Comes more than ready for further research and display. The Memorial Plaque was issued after the First World War to the next-of-kin of all British Empire service personnel who were killed as a result of the war. The plaques (which could be described as large plaquettes) about 4.72 inches (120 mm) in diameter, were cast in bronze, and came to be known as the "Dead Man’s Penny", or “Death Penny”, because of the similarity in appearance to the much smaller penny coin which itself had a diameter of only 1.215 inches (30.9 mm). 1,355,000 plaques were issued, which used a total of 450 tons of bronze, and continued to be issued into the 1930s to commemorate people who died as a consequence of the war. It was deci