Scarce WW1 Period Small Copper Medal Token from Miss Sandes Soldiers Home

Here on offer is a scarce WW1 period small copper medal token from Miss Sandes Soldiers Home.

Elise Sandes (1851 – August 1934) was the founder of a welfare movement for soldiers that bears her name and still survives today. She was an evangelical Christian and philanthropist and her concern for a young soldier in Tralee in the late 1860s led her to set up a centre for soldiers' recreation and general welfare. By 1913 there were thirty-one such 'soldiers' homes' all situated in the vicinity of various army barracks; twenty-two were in Ireland and the rest in British India. It is widely regarded that Sandes Homes for Soldiers were very well run and filled a real need among young soldiers, often far from their families who were made to feel at home and not faced with the cold commercial atmosphere of the barracks canteen. Sandes believed that a good feminine influence met a real need where young soldiers were concerned, and the 'homes' were the only place where some of the young recruits could receive anything approaching motherly care.
Only three Sandes homes remained open in the Irish Free State after 1921, but there were still 20 homes in total in the late 1920s, most of them in India. In recognition of her work as a humanitarian and her dedication to the soldiers' general well-being Elise Sandes is one of only two civilian women to be buried with full military honours – the other being her successor, Eva Maguire.

This small copper medal token has raised letters on one side:

FROM
MISS SANDES
SOILDIERS
HOME

Then on the other side is:

THE LORD
IS MY LIGHT
AND MY
SALVATION
PSLAM 27-1

Along with the medal makers details, being:

THE N.P.O.
42 ANN STREET BELFAST

N.P.O. stands for the Northern Publishing Office, a company that operated at 42 and 44 Ann Street in Belfast.
They were a publisher and retailer known for producing religious, souvenir, and commemorative brass or copper-alloy tokens. Popular items issued by the office include vintage "God is Light" and "The Lord is my Shepherd" medallions. While the N.P.O. published and sold these pieces in Belfast, the actual tokens were frequently manufactured in England or Germany.

The medal token is in excellent condition with a nice patina to the finish.

It measures 0.9” (2.3cm) diameter and weighs 3.2g.

Please see my pictures for the details of the condition, which complement this description.

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Code: 52267