M.O.T.H. vintage pin badges x 3

Jan Smuts button badge 1940s

The United Party was a political party in South Africa, and was the country's ruling political party between 1934 and 1948. The Party was formed by a merger of the majority of Prime Minister Barry Hertzog's National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts, plus the remnants of the Unionist Party. Its full name was the United National South African Party, but it was generally called the United Party. The party drew support from several different parts of South African society, including English-speakers, Afrikaners and Coloureds.

Hertzog led the party until 1939. In that year, Hertzog refused to commit South Africa to Britain's war effort against Nazi Germany. Many Afrikaners who had fought in the Second Boer War were still alive, and British war crimes during that conflict were still fresh in their memory. Hertzog felt that siding with the former enemy would be unacceptable to Afrikaners. Furthermore, he did not see much benefit for South Africa in taking part in a war that he saw as an essentially European affair.

The majority of the United Party caucus were of a different mind, however, and Hertzog resigned. Jan Smuts succeeded him and led the party and the country throughout World War II and the immediate post-war years.


Memorable Order of Tin Hats (M.O.T.H.)
The Memorable Order of Tin Hats was founded in 1927 by Charles Evenden as a brotherhood of South African former front-line soldiers. The ideal is to help comrades in need, either financially or physically; and to remember all servicemen who have answered the Sunset Call, both in war and peacetime.

Cosy Corner Brakpan
In 1927, a Brakpan ex-serviceman on holiday in Durban met a journalist who was considering the start of a movement to bring ex-soldiers together to rekindle the spirit of comradeship experienced in World War One. The result of Joe Freels conversation with Charles Evenden was the start of the Moth movement in Brakpan, which will be celebrating 100 years in 2027.

The first thing Joe did was to contact as many former servicemen as possible and, in September 1927, a meeting was held at the Station Hotel. In December another meeting was held and a decision was taken to start the Brakpan shellhole. Meetings were held at various venues in Brakpan and at one such gathering someone happened to comment that this is a cosy corner. This was adopted as the name for the shellhole. Meetings were popular and enthusiasm made up for small numbers, with ex-servicemen only too glad to get together and share their memories of the war years.