Military Hatpins - Canada. Military Button Conversions.

Big-hat hatpins
Canadian Mounted Police

Is one from William Scharfe?  Could be.  Hello. 

Canadian Mountie button hatpin

The Mounties! 1904 or earlier. Canadian. Small, 3/4" across, rod 7 1/2". Victoria Crown on top, then banner with "Canada", and below that, a buffalo, see http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/macleod.html. Below that is"NWMP". North West Mounted Police. The Mounties. 1874-1904. See ://www.nwmpmuseum.com/historyofthenwmp.html.

NWMP, instead of other letters, see below, puts this button-hatpin at 1904 or earlier. This site shows a slightly different logo, with the French, "Maintain le droit," at://www.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/mountlist.html.

The Northwest Territories came into the Dominion of Canada in 1873. The Hudson's Bay Company departed, leaving a vacuum in law enforcement on the frontier. The first two congingents of Mounties, probably not known by that name then, about 400 men, were trained and deployed in 1874 at Manitoba. Then their reach extended to Saskatchewan, and Fort Edmonton, and at a place called "Fort Whoop-Up" (thanks to the whiskey trade) in Alberta. Fort Whoop-Up later was renamed Fort Macleod, for Col. James Mcleod, see ://www.ucalgary.ca/~dsucha/mountie/macleod.html. See photos and a buffalo at ://www.canada-photos.com/alberta-photos-cat.htmand the role of the Mounties moved on to guarding and controlling settlements for the railroads, and new settlers. Then came the North West rebellion, native peoples; and the Yukon Gold Rush - always work to do.

1905-1919 - Edward VII added the "Royal" - Royal North West Mounted Police or RNWMP. That dates our button-pin as before Edward II, or 1904 at the latest.

1920 - Federal police then joined the RNWMP to become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP. We like this stuff. Dad was Canadian. In WWII, the RCMP - took on intelligence, security roles.

See 1940 film, by Cecil B. DeMille ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_West_Mounted_Police_(film). Gary Cooper! And W.C.Fields in "The Fatal Glass of Beer," 1933:" 'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast," snow-in-the-face, slam, and "Officer Posthlewhistle of the Canadian Mounted." See ://louisville.edu/~kprayb01/WCFatal,beer.html,
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Canadian Engineers Military Button, Sappers, Hatpin 

Canadian Engineers. The Sappers. Combat and other construction, troop movement facilitation. The lettering on this button-hatpin is too small and worn to be seen well here. The logo is a beaver, so think of the bottom part of the logo here as a log, with a beaver sitting on it facing left. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Military_Engineers

WWI Canadian Engineers - the "sappers" - see them at ://www.art-ww1.com/gb/texte/024text.htmlengineers were to facilitate troop movement, whatever that required - bridges, anything. Tunnels under enemy trenches. See Vimy Ridge. See France Road Ways, Vimy Ridge; and a very rough overview at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappers.

At Ypres, see Belgium Road Ways, Ypres; and their lines at http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/secondypres/gravenstafel/images/bridgedemo1-2.gif. Ypres is now known as "Ieper." When you do a search, use both names. See Belgium Road Ways, Ieper; and Belgium Road Ways, Ieper, Menen Gate. Sappers - also in Palestine WWI, and Europe in WWII - look up their full deployments. Story of one from WWII at ://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/13272-sword-beach-bremen-veterans-tale-sapper.html

When did the Royal Canadian Engineers come in? If the terminology follows the changes in the Mounties, then the Royal Canadian Engineers came in in 1904; and the just plain Canadian Engineers were until 1904? That would put our button-pin as pre WWI.

Study the demolition of bridges at the Battle(s) of Ypres at ://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/secondypres/gravenstafel/bridgedemo1.htm. April 22, 1915. See also the write-up and symbol with the beaver at http://army.ca/wiki/index.php/Canadian_Military_Engineers.