Medals of Sir Ernest Shackleton

[MBrockway]

Pals,

I'm trying to ascertain what medals were awarded to Sir Ernest Shackleton, the polar explorer, for his service in the Murmansk/Archangel campaign in Russia, and for a "special operation" in Spitzbergen.

Also whether he was regimentally attached.

Here's his MIC:

And here are the only London Gazette entries I could find for him (post 1917). They chart him being gazetted to a temporary major and then the award of the military OBE (I think!).

<snip>

<snip>

I caught a fleeting glimpse in a recent TV programme of an unfamiliar picture of Shackleton in Army officer's uniform, but it went by too quick to catch the badge and insignia.

Presumably a temp Major on the Special List would wear the GS cap badge?

What exactly was the "Special List"?

What medals was he awarded? The MIC seems to imply he got the Star, but he certainly was not in a Theatre of War in 1914 or 1915 ... unless you count South Georgia. He did not return to the UK from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (the Endurance expedition) until May 1917.

Or is "Emblem" in the row for the Star misleading and in fact he was simply MiD without being awarded the Star?

Can anyone cast any light on this? All help welcome!

Cheers,

Mark

[auchonvillerssomme]

This is best I can do.

Mick

[MBrockway]

Excellent Mick - I think that's the picture I saw on the TV. Where did you find it?

As regards his medals, would you mind if I posted this picture in Grumpy's medal ribbon thread?

There's certainly a Polar Medal there, and I think I see a KSA? It's an unusual mix too.

I'll have to check his naval service - unlike Scott, he was in the Merchant Marine.

Cheers,

Mark

[auchonvillerssomme]

I have no idea where I got it from (probably stolen from another site) have had it a while so you can do with it as you will. It is an unusual mix, would be interesting to identify them all in order.

Mick

[27thBN]

Pals,

I'm trying to ascertain what medals were awarded to Sir Ernest Shackleton, the polar explorer, for his service in the Murmansk/Archangel campaign in Russia, and for a "special operation" in Spitzbergen.

Also whether he was regimentally attached.

Here's his MIC:

And here are the only London Gazette entries I could find for him (post 1917). They chart him being gazetted to a temporary major and then the award of the military OBE (I think!).

<snip>

<snip>

I caught a fleeting glimpse in a recent TV programme of an unfamiliar picture of Shackleton in Army officer's uniform, but it went by too quick to catch the badge and insignia.

Presumably a temp Major on the Special List would wear the GS cap badge?

What exactly was the "Special List"?

What medals was he awarded? The MIC seems to imply he got the Star, but he certainly was not in a Theatre of War in 1914 or 1915 ... unless you count South Georgia. He did not return to the UK from the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (the Endurance expedition) until May 1917.

Or is "Emblem" in the row for the Star misleading and in fact he was simply MiD without being awarded the Star?

Can anyone cast any light on this? All help welcome!

Cheers,

Mark

Hi i am watching a doco on him at the second and have stopped the picture he is wearing as you said a GS cap badge and titles on collars on SD jacket

He is not entitled to the star ,he obviously got an MID though .The shot i am looking at now is different clear but cant see his ribbons

As to the special list i am thinking same as special reserve ?

MC

[MBrockway]

As to the special list i am thinking same as special reserve ?

MC

MC,

Not sure exactly what the Special List is, but I am confident is not connected with the Special Reserve.

I think Special List is a part of the Army List for personnel who were utilised in Staff jobs but had not come up through the regimental system. The more typical Staff Officer would have been promoted up through the officer grades within the establishment of their regiment and if they were posted to a Staff job, then they were still on their regiment's establishment but classified as "extra regimentally employed".

I know the KRRC had a number of senior officers commanding divisions and Army Corps, and of course General Rawlinson was a rifleman.

My knowledge on this area is poor though and I don't fully understand the General List vs the Special List - I think I need to get to grips properly with the way the Army List functions!

Cheers,

Mark

[Staffsyeoman]

Well, the picture pre-dates June 1919 as there is no MBE (Mil) in his top row. It looks like the CVO, Polar Medal and a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Therefore follows that the rest are foreign awards, as there are no (war) campaign medals in there - if you view a Polar Medal as reflecting a campaign, of sorts. It won't be a King's South Africa Medal as that was never awarded singly and I don't see the requisite Queen's Medal to go with it. Not sure (without checking) that he was in in SA anyway.

[Philip Wilson]

Mark

He is wearing nine medal ribbons and according to his entry in Debretts 1919 at that juncture he had nine medals.

He was awarded an MVO in 1907 which was upgraded to the CVO in 1909 when he was knighted.

The Polar Medal.

Officer of the Legion of Honour

Commander of the Order of Danebrog of Denmark,

Polestar of Sweden,

Crown of Italy

St Olaf of Norway

Russian Order of St Anne

1st Class Chilean Order of Merit.

The top ribbon bar contains the CVO, Polar Medal and what could well be the Legion of Honour.

If you can find a picture of him wearing medals then we ought to be able to put his foreign awards in the correct sequence as per the nine ribbons in the photo.

He received an OBE in the LG of the 3 June 1919 page 6975 for services in Russia - clearly the photo pre-dates this award.

Philip

[MBrockway]

Excellent stuff Pals!

I'll post something in David's medal ribbon Topic tomorrow ... complete now with a list of the medals.

How about decoding the MIC?

Am I correct in reading it as British War Medal and Victory Medal with an oak leaf emblem for the MiD?

How would the Emblem be worn?

Cheers,

Mark

[kaisersoffensive]

Am I correct in reading it as British War Medal and Victory Medal with an oak leaf emblem for the MiD?

How would the Emblem be worn?

For the Great War period it was in fact a cluster of oak leaves which changed at some time(?) to a single oak leaf.

It was affixed to the ribbon by the means of two tapered lugs.

Pretty certain that this is correct.

Cheers,

Bob Norman

[Staffsyeoman]

I certainly read it as a BWM & VM with the MID emblem.

The WW1 device is a cluster of laurel leaves; it is the 1930s on-to 1990s version which is a single Oak Leaf. The fixing remained the same as Bob says.

[27thBN]

Yes he certainly got a lot of foreign awards for his Antarctica explorations.Nice he got one from Norway as well with Amundsen getting to the south pole first ..just in front of Captain Scott

MC

[MBrockway]

Nice he got one from Norway as well with Amundsen getting to the south pole first ..just in front of Captain Scott

MC

I think he got the Norwegian award for his achievement of Furthest South on the Nimrod Expedition 1907-09 before either Amundsen or Scott launched their successful Pole expeditions.

Shackleton was always very popular with the Norwegians. They regarded his decision to turn back only 97 miles from the Pole as showing greater bravery than continuing only to then die. Nansen was famously quoted as saying the Pole was not worth a life as he left the Fram to attempt to reach the North Pole.

Amundsen was one of his greatest admirers.

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

I certainly read it as a BWM & VM with the MID emblem.

The WW1 device is a cluster of laurel leaves; it is the 1930s on-to 1990s version which is a single Oak Leaf. The fixing remained the same as Bob says.

Phil / Bob,

Thanks for that, but I was aware of its appearance - what I really meant was whether it was worn on the ribbon of one of the medals, and if so which one, or whether it was mounted separately somehow?

Sorry I was a bit vague in the original question!

Cheers,

Mark

[MartH]

So where are the originals?

[Philip Wilson]

Phil / Bob,

Thanks for that, but I was aware of its appearance - what I really meant was whether it was worn on the ribbon of one of the medals, and if so which one, or whether it was mounted separately somehow?

Sorry I was a bit vague in the original question!

Cheers,

Mark

Mark

The oak leaf MID emblem would normally be worn on the ribbon of the Victory Medal with a smaller version of the oak leaf being worn on the Victory Medal when mounted on a ribbon bar. Here is larger version of the emblem for a mention in despatch - a different bronze emblem was used for WW2 till 1993 when a slighlty smaller silver emblem was introduced - its not to scale.

The book 'Mentioned in Despatches' by Jim Condon published by the Orders and Medals Research Society in 2007 provides a fascinating insight into the evolution of MID Certificates and Emblems for British Mentions in Despatches.

Philip

[Staffsyeoman]

Agreed - Jim Condon's article is excellent, especially with regard to the tangled web of devices now present. In short, tho' - always on the Victory Medal for WW1 and only one device no matter how many earned. Post-WW1, on the ribbon of the appropriate campaign medal, (e.g. if the recipient was in Afghanistan in 1919, it would be on the Indian General Service Medal ribbon) or if none awarded - or before a medal was promulgated - worn on a piece of ribbon colour of the appropriate uniform at the end of the group of ribbons. I've seen photos where a piece of ribbon was appended to the end of full-size group when mounted to allow its wear.

[MBrockway]

Thanks Chaps - that's exactly what I wanted to know.

Cheers,

Mark

[per ardua per mare per terram]

... I'll have to check his naval service - unlike Scott, he was in the Merchant Marine...

Shackleton was Merchant Marine then Royal Naval Reserve.

"Anxious to serve his country and the British empire during the First World War, but—according to H. R. Mill—unable to forgive the Admiralty for not allowing him to enter the navy in 1903 (Mill, 250), Shackleton did not go to sea again, as might have been expected. He carried out a propaganda mission on behalf of the Foreign Office in South America in late 1917 and early 1918. He was then given a commission as major and put in charge of equipment for the winter campaign (1918–19) of the north Russian expeditionary force, based in Murmansk on the staff of Major-General Charles Clarkson Martin Maynard, who found him an easier subordinate than expected. He resigned his commission in February 1919 and returned to business projects."

Ann Savours, ‘Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry (1874–1922)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36034, accessed 6 March 2010]

H. R. Mill, The life of Sir Ernest Shackleton (1933)

[RussT]

Up-date

Medals sold for £585000 !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34482326

[MBrockway]

Thanks for posting the auction info Russ - very interesting!

This topic seems to have lost its original pictures of Shackleton in army uniform ...

and here are the ribbons sold yesterday at Christie's ...

Top row:

1. Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, 1909

2. Polar Medal, 1902-1904 & 1907-1909 (?rosette representing the second award?)

3.?? Polar Medal 1914-1916 ??? (Shackleton was awarded the Polar Medal three times in total)

4. Legion of Honour (France), 1909

Middle row:

1. Crown of Italy, 1910

2. ? Order of Merit (Chile), 1916 ???

3. Dannebrog of Denmark, 1909

Bottom row:

1. St Olaf of Norway, 1909

2. Polar Star of Sweden, 1909

3. St Anne of Russia, 1910

The ribbons in neither picture match these precisely, but most of them are there in a different sequence. Working out the order of precedence of these decorations must have been quite tricky!

The 2nd ribbon in the top row of the right hand portrait is the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Military), 1919

[MBrockway]

A very interesting article on Shackleton and his involvement in the North Russia campaign has just been posted by Damien Wright here:

 

[Bernard_Lewis]

Antarctic explorer's saying (allegedly):

 

For speed, you need Amundsen.

 

For scientific study, you need Scott.

 

For disaster, get down on your knees and pray you get Shackleton

 

The man who gave his last biscuit to a comrade because he needed it more. A remarkable man.

 

Bernard

 

[trajan]

Off but related topic - a hearty cheer to me old Durham uni drinking mate Bob, who has just got (yet again) to where Shackelton never made, but Scott did, a little late in the day... http://www.thebaghdadpost.com/EN/story/22980/British-father-son-become-first-to-reach-South-Pole-using-renewable-energy

[Lawryleslie]

On 01/03/2010 at 13:22, MBrockway said:

I think he got the Norwegian award for his achievement of Furthest South on the Nimrod Expedition 1907-09 before either Amundsen or Scott launched their successful Pole expeditions.

Shackleton was always very popular with the Norwegians. They regarded his decision to turn back only 97 miles from the Pole as showing greater bravery than continuing only to then die. Nansen was famously quoted as saying the Pole was not worth a life as he left the Fram to attempt to reach the North Pole.

Amundsen was one of his greatest admirers.

Cheers,

Mark

Mark, Scott's focus was success of his expedition and not the safety of his men and this is what sets Shackleton head and shoulders above Scott as a leader in my opinion. A tough but fair disciplinarian, Shackleton knew exactly what the strengths and weaknesses were of all his men and this ultimately saved the lives of every one of his team on the Endurance Expedition. I firmly believe from my own experience in the Navy that Scott's popularity, even now, amongst naval officers is simply down to Scott being a commissioned officer of the RN whereas Shackleton was a merchant navy officer. Indeed in the Discovery expedition of 1901-03 which Scott commanded and Shackleton was a member, their was often disagreement between them regarding Scott’s insistence on them following the Naval Discipline Act and Shackleton's less formal approach which he regarded as far more suitable to the coherence of the closely knit team.

During  my last 3 years in the RN I had the privilege of working with the Royal Naval Hydrographic Service, a small team that held Shackleton in the highest esteem and even named their HQ building in South Yard of Devonport Naval Base after the great man. We were often visited by Alexandra Shackleton, the granddaughter of Ernest Shackleton who once brought his Polar Explorers Medal which had been presented to him by the King.