The Royal Army Pay Corps, or RAPC, was responsible for paying soldiers in the British Army, and after 1925 all aspects of the Army’s finances. Like any other Corps within the British Army it had its own distinctive insignia and its cap badge reflected its role across the whole of the Army. The Lion and Crown have both been symbols used by the Army for centuries and a crowned lion, or lion standing on a crown was often used as a general badge for the whole army in the twentieth century. It is therefore unsurprising that this was chosen as the insignia of the RAPC, especially as both are symbols connected with honesty and integrity. The cap badge then features a lion above a crown in gilding metal, with a white metal scroll beneath:

The motto is ‘Fide et Fiducia’ meaning ‘In Faith and Trust’ indicating the position of trust it’s clerks were placed. Indeed up until the Second World War members of the corps could only be recruited from the wider army and had to have proven themselves to be trustworthy before entering the RAPC. During the Second World War this requirement was dropped and men of lower medical categories were routinely drafted to the corps to free up fitter men for combat units. Despite this the members of the RAPC could find themselves in combat and so a move was made to ensure all the men were trained in basic small arms skills if they were to be deployed close to the front lines.

The rear of the badge has a large slider to allow the badge to be worn on a cap or beret:

The slider is stamped with the maker’s name:

In this case the badge was made by Dowler of Birmingham. This is almost certainly W Dowler and Sons who specialised in whistle manufacture but also made stamped metal goods such as buttons and badges. The firm dates back to 1744 and by 1870 was employing over 500 workers. The company amalgamated with Firmin in 1969, but the name continues as a trademark and the company still manufactures metal goods in Birmingham to this day.