I've been able to add a few more award serial numbers for the HJ Honour badge to the list in
post #1 in the last few weeks. As you can see below, the figure quoted for many years now in books and on websites for the number of badges awarded is out by at least 25,000 and possibly even more. That's not big news of course but we now have some proof to back things up.
From period publications:
153641. This badge serial appears in a list dated Aug 1936. I found two other badges in the 140,000 range in period sources and we have surviving badges in the 130,000 range
here and
here so I have no reason to doubt that 153641 is a good number.
188383. This one appears in a period source from 1938 but as I have not yet seen a serial number in a period publication, or indeed anywhere else, that even remotely approaches the 180,000s (I have assumed that it's a typo and have left it out of the list. Also, it was listed right next to badge number 108381 in a list of lost badges so again, 188383 must be a typo.
674223. Same for this one found in another list in a period publication from 1936 . Definitely a typo.
Going to the other extreme, badge serial number
1 is claimed, in two separate sources, for/by two different people. No surprise there