The arms are those of Hill of Lewisham, Kent, as borne by Emery Hill, born in 1610. A brewer, he left an endowment to establish almshouses in Rochester Row (then Tuthill Fields) and in Petty France. His other charitable bequests include "100 for a stock of coals forever, for use of the poor of the Parish." He was a churchwarden of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and is buried there. There is still an almshouse in Rochester Row with a stone bust of Hill set into the wall recording its foundation in 1708. The inmates received a new cloak every two years.

These badges were evidently worn by the inmates of the Rochester Row almshouses. Another identical example is in the London Museum and another was sold by Sotheby's, London, October 11, 1978, lot 77A.