This black felt beret belonged to the artist James G Jeffs. It has a pin badge of the Norwegian flag attached.
The badge signifies the special association which exists between the people of Norway and the people of Dumfries, forged by the
events of the Second World War, when Dumfries found itself the training centre of the Norwegian army in exile. Jeffs often received Norwegian visitors to his Dumfries studio.
When Germany invaded Norway in 1940 the
Norwegian merchant fleet was still at sea. Despite orders to proceed to neutral
or German harbours, every single ship sailed to Allied ports. 3,000 men arrived in Britain, and while half went back to sea in British or Norwegian ships, the remainder was sent to a transit camp set up in Troqueer Mill,Dumfries.
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