War Medals and Their HistorySteward, William Augustus
History
War Medals and Their History
Steward, William Augustus
Great Britain. Army -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.
=The Queen's Medal.=--Twenty-six bars were issued in connection with
the Queen's medal. Many think this constitutes a record, and it does
for one campaign, but twenty-eight were issued with the Military
General Service medal which was awarded in 1847; this, however, covered
a series of campaigns. No less than 230 bars were issued with the Naval
General Service medal also authorised in 1847, but these were obviously
to cover a series of operations and campaigns. The bars for the Boer
War are as follows, ranged in chronological order: CAPE COLONY,
NATAL, RHODESIA, RELIEF OF MAFEKING, DEFENCE OF KIMBERLEY, TALANA,
ELANDSLAAGTE, DEFENCE OF LADYSMITH, BELMONT, MODDER RIVER, TUGELA
HEIGHTS, RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY, PAARDEBERG, ORANGE FREE STATE, RELIEF
OF LADYSMITH, DRIEFONTEIN, WEPENER, DEFENCE OF MAFEKING, TRANSVAAL,
JOHANNESBURG, LAING'S NEK, DIAMOND HILL, WITTEBERGEN, BELFAST, SOUTH
AFRICA 1901, SOUTH AFRICA 1902. The latter two were issued to those
who, although engaged during the period for which the King's Medal
was awarded, were nevertheless not entitled to it by the terms of the
grant. Talana, where General Penn Symonds was killed on October 20th,
1899, was the first general engagement, and Belfast, fought on August
26th and 27th, 1900, the last. The bars should read upwards from the
medal in the order arranged above.
This medal by G. W. De Saulles is 1⅖ in. in diameter, and has on
the obverse the bust of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (as shown in the
illustration facing page 176). On the reverse is a spirited figure of
Britannia, grasping the Union Jack in her left hand, while with her
right she offers the laurel wreath to the army which marches past:
"A varied host, from kindred realms they come,
Brethren in arms, but rivals in renown."
Behind her in the distance is a man-of-war in Table Bay, and in the
foreground, lying to the left, her shield and trident; above is SOUTH
AFRICA. It is noteworthy that the Army Order specifically mentions not
only the Colonial and Indian forces, but nurses and nursing sisters.
Bronze medals without bars were given to non-enlisted men of whatever
nationality who drew military pay, and to authorised camp followers.
The ribbon has a broad centre stripe of orange, with dark blue and red
stripes at the sides. The names, etc., were mostly indented in skeleton
block letters, some tall and some square, but many were engraved in
slanting Roman capitals. The first medals awarded, including those
issued to the Canadian contingent, had the date 1899-1900 printed on
the field to the right of Britannia, but this, of course, quickly
rubbed off when the medal was worn. Medals, however, in mint
condition, are sometimes found with the date still clearly showing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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