Returned Medals to War Office - 1929 - Reclaim?

[aeroplanegripper]

Greetings,

I wonder if the experts on these forums can advise on this case or are aware of cases of a similar nature?

My Grand Uncle Henry Sheerer DOW on 10 Mar 1915 with the 1st KRRC. He was married and had a single child his son Henry Albert.

His wife was issued with his medals, a 14 Star, BWM and VM and Plaque, on her early death in 1924, the medals and plaque were passed to Henry's son who was in the Royal Sussex Regiment at Bordon.

Unfortunatley he died at 18 in 1929 at Aldershot, and I have a copy of the correspondence between the RSR and KRRC on the disposal of the medals and plaque but it appears that they all went to the War Office in 1929 and were scrapped.

My question is were medals actually scrapped, I assume that they were, however is there any way I may reapply through the Veterans Agency to reclaim?

A long shot I know but I would like to get them back for the family.

[headgardener]

First of all, I'd say that you want to check his MIC. Any action regarding his medals will be recorded there, even the return and scrapping of them in 1929 (I remember coming across an entry from the late 1960's showing the return and scrapping of a medal that had been found lying in a street and which was never reclaimed. You never know what action may have subsequently been taken regarding this man's medals.

My understanding of this subject is;

1) medals continued to be considered army property, or at least the army authorities exercised the right to demand their return under various circumstances. I assume that there must have been some question regarding inheritance (perhaps there was no will?), and that the next-of-kin of Henry's son had some difficulty proving a relationship to the medals. They would then have been returned and scrapped pending a claim from someone who could prove themselves to be Henry's next-of-kin.

2) Ww1 medals are no longer issued by the Army Medal Office. The best you can do, if you really want to have a set of medals, is to buy relicas or erased medals.

The question of what exactly constitutes a man's 'real' medals is an interesting one. Henry never handled his medals, and the ones issued to his next-of-kin were destroyed. Would 'new' official replacements be 'his' medals?

I'll leave that question hanging, partly because you simply won't be able to obtain 'official' reissues, I'm afraid.

Edit; just noticed that Ken beat me to it.

[kenf48]

Yes, they were scrapped. Medals granted prior to 1920 are not reissued see final FAQ on this link

http://www.mod.uk/De...s/MedalFaqs.htm

Your dilemma has been discussed before on the Forum a number of times and can be controversial e.g.

http://1914-1918.inv...showtopic=64613

Really the choice is yours.

I notice his service record is on ancestry (51 pages) and the medal index card which also notes the medals were 'scrapped' in 1929

Ken

EDIT I guess that's where you got the correspondence from having read the record

[headgardener]

What the....

Weren't you just ahead of me in the queue...? Suddenly my reference to you 'beating me to it' looks a bit odd.......

[kenf48]

No, you're not looking odd

I edited my post after reading the record - then the formatting went askew then and then - oh never mind. Suffice to say I deleted the first one which put your post above mine and having gone through all that I wasn't about to edit it again

so we're no odder than usual..

'relica?"

bw

Ken

[aeroplanegripper]

Headgardener and kenf48,

Thank you for the update and links.

Much appreciated.

Mark