 
The dignity which enshrines a collection of war medals is something greater and fuller than that which can be ascribed to almost any other branch of curio collecting. Coins, china, furniture, and prints are all fascinating in their way, but none seem to have the same depth of interest as is possessed by the average collection of war medals. To handle one of these tokens of strife and bloodshed is to call up feelings of reverence and honour for the man who spent his energies so freely in earning it, and it is probably on account of this extrinsic quality that war medals are so highly prized among connoisseurs. With many forms of collecting, the different specimens that are available are so numerous as to be The best method of storing these treasures is to follow the plan adopted by coin-collectors, and to range them on trays in the shallow drawers of coin-cabinets. Where the pieces are few in number, it is a good plan to mount them on a board covered with black velvet, and to frame them just as one does a picture. To have no particular method of keeping them, to leave them lying loose in drawers, or to place them as casual ornaments in curio or china cabinets is decidedly wrong, for a few scratches, a fall, or a little rough handling will often reduce considerably the value of a specimen. For the benefit of the uninitiated, it may be well to mention that not only does the value of a medal depend upon its state of preservation—that is to say, whether it is in mint condition, slightly rubbed, much worn, scratched, battered, re-engraved, etc.—but also upon the number of clasps that go with it. It must not be thought that collectors tolerate the indiscriminate adding of clasps to claspless medals. A medal that was awarded with, say, one additional honour cannot be turned into a three-clasp decoration by purchasing two clasps from a dealer and placing them upon the slide ribbon. The medal in question, if it be less than a hundred years old, has ROYALIST BADGE WORN BY THE PARTISANS OF CHARLES I. Medals were known to the Ancients. The Greeks, for instance, have left behind them many interesting specimens which can still be seen in our public museums, but none of them were given as recompenses for military bravery. The ordinary soldier of these early days had no status, and therefore received no rewards, whilst the leaders were given crowns of laurel, bracelets, and neck chains of gold for the services they rendered. It was Queen Elizabeth who first thought of giving medals to British fighting men, and it was the crews of the ships which sailed out to meet the Armada that received them. The first medals to be given for military, as distinct from naval, honours were struck by Charles I. Probably the very earliest award made by this King was the medal presented to Sir Robert Welch, an officer in the Royalist Cavalry, whose bravery in recovering the standard from the Parliamentary forces at Edge Hill excited the admiration of every member in his party. Charles gave orders for many other medals to be struck, but most of them were presented to officers holding high posts who had performed special services in times of peace as well as war. Many of these decorations were fashioned in single copies, and as practically none of them bore any inscriptions beyond the title and motto of the King, it is impossible to ascribe them to any definite act of military value. They were all oval in shape, whilst the designs showed considerable artistic merit. All these medals were intended to be worn suspended around the neck, or fixed brooch-like in the hat. Usually, the ribbons which were worn with them could be selected by the possessor at will, no fixed pattern being officially decreed, as obtains in present times. As may be expected, specimens belonging to this early period are now extremely costly, but they are often obtainable at public sales. A fine collection of them may be inspected in the medal-room at the British Museum. Charles I evidently had great faith in the value of decorations, for we find that towards the latter part of his reign he instituted a general medal, known popularly as the Forlorn Hope medal, which was to be awarded much on the lines which regulate the granting of the Victoria Cross to-day. The warrant which announced these awards ran as follows:— "Charles R. Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well, whereas we have received information that those soldiers which have been forward to serve us in the Forlorn-hope, are not looked upon according to "And we do, therefore, most straightly command that no soldier at any time do sell, nor any of our subjects presume to buy, or wear, any of these said Badges, other than they to whom we shall give the same, and that under such pain and punishment as the Council of War shall think fit to inflict if any shall presume to offend against this our Royal command. And we further require the said Commanders and Wardens of our Mint to keep several registers of the names of those, and of their country, for whom they shall give their certificate. Given at our Court, at Oxford, the 18th day of May, 1643." It is unfortunate that what records were presumably kept, under these orders, were destroyed by The Dunbar medal, the next to call for attention, is of special interest, as it was the first British award to be given to every member of the fighting forces, whether man or officer. This attractive decoration was struck in 1650 in two sizes, a small gold piece for officers and a large copper one for distribution among the ranks. Both bore the same design, namely, Cromwell's profile and the inscription "Word.at.Dunbar. The Lord of Hosts. Septem. Y. 3. 1650.," on the obverse, and a view, in exaggerated perspective, of Parliament in full assembly on the reverse. A curious letter, referring to the design of this medal, and written by the Protector, is still extant. It explains that Cromwell while in Scotland received a visit from the artist chosen by Parliament to execute the design. The artist went to beg a few sittings of the great leader with a view to producing a faithful portrait-likeness. But Cromwell was extremely loath to allow his features to be displayed upon the medal, and advanced all manner of excuses, probably owing to feelings of over-sensitiveness. In the end he was prevailed upon, and the medal bore his profile as stated above. This incident is of special interest, as After Dunbar came a lengthy period during which many medals were struck; they were all, however, of an individual character, being awarded to leaders for personal services. Culloden, which was fought on April 16, 1746, was the next event to call for a special issue of medals. To commemorate the Young Pretender's rout, oval medals in gold and silver were struck. It is presumed that the gold pieces were awarded to leaders of the highest rank, whilst the silver ones went to those of lesser importance. It is certain, however, that no awards were made to the common soldiers. The design was remarkably bold and imposing; the obverse bore a simple profile of the Duke of Cumberland with short curly hair and the word "Cumberland," whilst the reverse showed an unclothed full-length figure of Apollo, looking to the left. The inscription "Actum est ilicet perut" and, also in Latin, "Battle of Culloden, April 16th, 1746," appeared on the reverse. This medal was one of the first to be issued with a definitely prescribed pattern for the ribbon. The warrant effecting its issue stated that "it was to be worn round the necks of officers by means of a crimson ribbon having a narrow green border." The medal is exceedingly rare, but of the few copies known to exist one, fortunately, may be seen among The history of British and Indian medals is so interwoven that it is impossible to study the first without knowing something of the latter. It may even be claimed that much which affected the fashioning and awarding of late eighteenth-century decorations given by the authorities at Bombay has since been copied by our authorities at home. The most obvious point bearing on this contention deals with the shape of the medals. Before the Indian examples, all of which were circular, were struck, the British patterns invariably appeared oval in form, whilst most of the subsequent issues have been circular. Again, the allegorical designs of patriotic themes, which our most recent medals bear, had their early origin in the sepoy tableaux which decorated the reverse of the Indian medals. The reverse side of British medals before the Indian specimens were issued usually depicted the features of a royal personage, a coat of arms, or, perhaps, a sailing vessel. But the greatest influencing factor of the Indian medals was the method of granting them. Every soldier from the highest general down to the lowest fighter received an award. In England quite a different custom prevailed. With the single exception of the Dunbar medal, no English soldier was ever awarded a royal medal until Waterloo, unless his conduct had been unusually brave and he had merited some special recognition. The controversy which raged round Wellington's campaigns as to THE CRIMEAN MEDAL. The pioneer medal from India is usually spoken of as the 1778 decoration awarded for services at Poona, but, as no specimens are known to exist, there is reasonable doubt as to whether the decoration was ever struck. The records, however, state plainly that the Bombay Council decided to give medals to all the officers among the grenadier-sepoys who went with Colonel Egerton to quell a native rising in Poona. In 1780, a campaign in Deccan took place against Tippoo Sahib and his father. A medal was afterwards minted by the Honourable East India Company and presented to all officers and men forming the Bengal Army. There were gold and silver specimens, vast numbers of both being struck. The obverse showed Britannia, leaning forward, offering a wreath to a fort flying a British flag. The reverse bore a Persian inscription. A second encounter with Tippoo Sahib, known as the Mysore Campaign, took place in 1791-2. The medals which were subsequently struck for the officers and men who served under Colonel Cockerell were made in gold and silver and were intended to be worn around the neck, suspended by a yellow silk cord. The obverse depicted a sepoy grasping a half-unfurled British flag, trampling at the same If medals were ever dearly won, those of the Mysore Campaign seem to have been, for many stories have been told of the great daring shown by Cockerell's men. Thomas Carter in his work on "War Medals" writes as follows: "One of the most dashing exploits in the War of Mysore was the capture of Bangalore, the second city in the dominions of Tippoo. It was enclosed by a high wall and a deep ditch, and the gate was covered by a close thicket of Indian thorns. The attack was made without any examination of the ground, and the troops in advancing and endeavouring to force an entrance were exposed to a destructive fire of musketry. Colonel Moorhouse, one of the best officers in the service, fell mortally wounded. At length, Lieutenant Ayre, a man of diminutive stature, succeeded in forcing his way through the shattered gate; which gallant action being observed by General Meadows, he shouted to the stormer, 'Well done! Now, whiskers, try, if you can, to follow and support the little gentleman.' This animated appeal succeeded: the troops rushed through the gate into the town and drove out the enemy at the point of the bayonet." It is now necessary to speak of two medals of a slightly different nature to any of the foregoing. In mentioning the first, we must recall the work undertaken by the 12th Lancers in 1793, when one section of the regiment went to Corsica and, landing, cap In the year 1794, another case of British soldiers receiving a foreign decoration occurred. In this instance, Emperor Francis II of Germany was the donor of a gold medal and a chain pendant to each of eight officers of the 15th Light Dragoons. The Emperor had fallen into a precarious position at Villiers-en-CrouchÉ, a small settlement near Cambray, and, had it not been for the heroic and persistent efforts of the English, he would certainly have been captured by the French, who were massed in great numbers. The awards were made as a thank-offering for his lucky escape. Unlike the Pope's decorations, those of Francis II were recognized by the English Army authorities, and the recipients were allowed to wear them when parading in full dress. The following letter may be quoted in reference to the matter
From this time until the Peninsular campaign almost all the medals which we have to record—many of them of a highly interesting nature—were awarded to native troops by the Honourable East India Company. The first, dated 1807, reminds us of the gradual expansion of the British Empire. It was struck to commemorate the capture of Ceylon from the Dutch, 1795-6. The medal was made in gold and silver in Calcutta and was given, probably exclusively, to the Bengal Native Artillery—one of those sections of the native Indian Army of which the East India Company was justly proud. The medal was un THE GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL, 1793-1814. THE AFGHAN MEDAL SOUTH AFRICAN MEDAL, 1877-9. The siege and capture of Seringapatam, which culminated in the death of that arch-enemy, Tippoo Sahib, was the occasion for issuing a Madras medal, according to a general order dated July 18, 1808. Gold pieces were given to senior officers, silver gilt pieces to field officers, silver pieces to junior officers, bronze pieces to the rank and file of the British force, and tin pieces to sepoys. The design was attractive: on the obverse appeared a landscape view of our gallant men storming Seringapatam, whilst a lion overwhelming a tiger filled the reverse. The medal was not made in Calcutta, as was usually the case with the Indian decorations, but at Birmingham. Collectors have often been at a loss to know how the Indian awards were intended to be worn. In reference to the Seringapatam distinction, Mayo, in "Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy," says: "There is no doubt that they were issued unmounted, and as no directions had been given by the authorities the details as to ribbon and mountings devolved on the recipients, who exercised their own discretion and taste. It is, however, prob "Three patterns of ribbon, at least, appear to have been used, viz. red with blue borders, yellow watered, and plain red. That the first was used under some sort of authority is gathered from a discussion which took place between the Madras Government and the Commander-in-Chief in 1831, on the occasion of the distribution of the medals awarded to the native troops in the first Burmese war. The Commander-in-Chief had proposed that a piece of red ribbon with blue borders should be issued with each medal. The Government assented to the issue of the ribbon but objected to the pattern on the ground of its resemblance to the Waterloo ribbon. To this the Commander-in-Chief replied that the ribbon he had proposed was common to all medals granted by His Majesty in modern times, and was considered to be the medal ribbon of England. He added: 'The medals of Seringapatam and Java are both suspended from it, and both are so worn with the sanction of His Majesty.' This is authoritative evidence of the medal being worn with the only military ribbon then in use. "Lord Harris, who commanded at Seringapatam, wore his medal, gold, suspended round his neck by the red, blue-bordered ribbon, as the gold medal was worn by general officers. A bust of his lordship was exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, at Chelsea A second Seringapatam medal, almost similar in design to the first, was struck in 1808 and presented to British as well as native troops by order of the East India Company. This decoration was made at Calcutta. The next medal takes us to Egypt and recalls to mind a number of desperate encounters between the English and French. In the year 1800 an army of 15,000 British soldiers, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, had been assembled in the peninsula. The French were already massed there in great numbers, being more than double our strength. On March 21, 1801, a bloody contest took place at Alexandria, and Abercrombie fell mortally wounded. Reinforcements were necessary, and these were supplied by the East India Company, which dispatched an expeditionary force of native troops with commendable promptitude. On returning to India in 1803, the Government of Bombay promised the men a campaign medal—that is to say, a medal would be granted to each individual who set out to fight for the British cause. Nine years elapsed before the medal was struck, but it is gratifying to know that specimens were given to the descendants of all soldiers whose demise had taken place in the meantime. Sixteen gold and 2,199 silver copies were struck at a cost of R. 5519.8. The obverse of this award showed a sepoy holding a Union Jack, whilst in the background the tents of the Indian camp were revealed. A The Turkish Sultan, also, gave a medal to the British soldiers who took part in this campaign. It is usually spoken of as "The Order of the Crescent." These early years of the nineteenth century brought the English into many unfortunate conflicts with our present allies, the French. No sooner was strife at an end in Egypt than we once more met our gallant rivals, this time in the Islands of Rodrigues, Bourbon, and Mauritius. It was in the years 1809-10, under the command of General J. Abercromby, who led the 6th and 24th Madras Infantry, also the 4th Bombay Infantry, and Vice-Admiral Bertie, who brought a squadron of ships, that a strong force met and defeated the French. The medal which was afterwards awarded to all natives who took part in the engagement was inscribed, "This medal was conferred in commemoration of the bravery and fidelity exhibited by the Sepoys of the English Company in the capture of the Islands of Rodrigues, Bourbon, and Mauritius in the year of Hegira, 1226." The date as reckoned by the English calendar was also given. The obverse revealed a sepoy standing with our national flag in one hand and a rifle in the other. A cannon was shown just behind him, whilst the background depicted an expanse of sea. Gold and silver pieces were struck by the Calcutta Mint. "On the occasion of the approaching return from the late French islands of the volunteers from Bengal, Fort St. George, and Bombay, to the Presidencies to which they respectively belong, His Excellency the Vice-President in Council considers it to be no less an act of justice than of indispensable duty to record the high sense he entertains of the services performed by the native soldiery, who were employed in concert with His Majesty's troops in the reduction of the Islands of Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius. He is pleased to signify his approbation of the distinguished merits of the volunteers by conferring honorary medals on all the native commissioned and non-commissioned officers, troopers, sepoys, gaulundauze, and gun lascars employed on that service." Closely following on the declaration of peace in the three above-mentioned islands of the Indian Ocean came trouble with the Dutch in Java. As was usual, a joint army of home and native troops was dispatched to the scene of conflict. A victory was gained in 1811, and on February 11, 1812, seven thousand medals were struck by the East India Company at Calcutta, for distribution among the Indian troops. The British regiments, the 14th, 59th, 69th, 78th, and 89th Foot, took part in the expedition but, following the usual custom, received no awards. The particulars of this Indian medal were as follows: Obverse—sepoys storming Fort Cornelis, upon which was prominently displayed a flagstaff bearing a British The Nepaul medal was the next to be struck by the Honourable East India Company. It bears the date of 1816. In granting this award, a departure was made from the usual custom of giving a decoration to every soldier, or his heirs, who actually set out from home with an expeditionary force. In this case, the medal was granted, first, to officers who reached the fighting area and, second, to the men who conducted themselves with conspicuous bravery. Mayo says that the feeling was probably gaining ground that too many medals were being struck and their value was becoming lessened in consequence. This he suggests was the reason for restricting the number on this occasion. The obverse of the Nepaul medal showed a stirring picture of hills, strongly fortified, with cannon in the foreground and an array of bayonets just coming into view. The reverse consisted of a Persian inscription. After Nepaul, a long period followed during which no campaign medals were awarded to Indian troops. Certain individual awards were made to officers, but as in each case less than twenty pieces were struck, we consider it unnecessary to record them in detail. At this point we must retrace our steps to the year 1806 and speak of the Battle of Maida, which may be described as an outlying encounter in the The last award to be described in this chapter is the Peninsular medal. Two sizes, both in gold, were struck and presented to officers. No men received them. The designs of both were: Obverse—Britannia, seated on a globe, holding out a palm; a couchant lion beside her. Reverse—a laurel wreath framing the name of one of the following battles: Roleia, Vimeira, Sahagun, Benevente, Corunna, Martinique, Talavera, Guadaloupe, Busaco, Barrosa, Fuentes d'Onoro, Albuera, Java, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Fort Detroit, Vittoria, Pyrenees, St. Sebastian Chateauguay, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. The name and rank of the recipient was engraved upon the edge. The larger medal was awarded to general officers Both the large and small medals were conferred for service in one engagement. For a second or third engagement bars were provided. These, it may be added, in parenthesis, were the first bars given to British soldiers. When an officer received distinctions in more than three engagements he was awarded the Peninsular Cross instead of the foregoing circular medals. This distinction was struck in gold and had much the same shape and design as was afterwards selected for the Victoria Cross. The lion on the former, however, faces to the right, whilst on the latter it looks to the left. In this chapter we have traced the history of British medals from their inception in the reign of Elizabeth down to the stormy times of the Duke of Wellington. The period was marked by the paucity of awards made to British troops. Popular opinion, however, was gradually forcing its influence during the latter years of the period upon the authorities who withheld them, and the following chapter shows how agitations coming from non-military quarters caused a complete change of policy in the granting of these coveted distinctions. THE INDIAN MUTINY MEDAL |
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