Gallantry Recommendations

[BFBSM]

I am wondering where I would find the recommendations for Gallantry Medals issued for The Great War to members of the British Commonwealth forces.

I have looked at the dates covered by WO 373, and note that the earliest dates in this Catalogue is 1935, surely there would be such a Catalogue for earlier periods?

The website for TNA and their cataloguing is a little frustrating.

Mark

[AdrianBruce]

According to William Spencer's "Medals: The Researcher's Guide", all awards to members of the British Army in WW1, were submitted on form W3121. Alas, these were all destroyed in Sept 1940 - not sure if this was the same episode that destroyed most of the personnel records.

There are mentions in the book of some other files, for which it would be best if you could specify which award you were interested in. Not sure if these contain much beyond lists.

However - I am not sure from your question whether you mean recommendations by the British authorities for Empire soldiers (I think that was the contemporary term!) or all recommendations - most of which, so far as I know, would have been made by their own armies and held in what are now Commonwealth archives - for instance, I have found details of the citation for an Australian MM in Australian on-line archives, whereas all UK Army MM citations (or at least, the official copies) are lost.

[(nzef)]

Hello Mark,

In regards New Zealand Gallantry recommendations (citations) you can either search the Londond Gazette, read the Unit Histories (Most have an appendix regarding awards) or purchase Wayne McDonalds book 'HONOURS AND AWARDS TO THE NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918'

Cheers

Grant

[BFBSM]

Thanks guys,

I was referring to the UK records, or as Adrian put it

recommendations by the British authorities for Empire soldiers

. I have just looked at the TNA website again using a different search condition and actually found this:

First World War, 1914-1918Gallantry awards, and mentions in dispatches, for the First World War are so numerous that the index to the London Gazette is not the place to start. Instead, there are the indexes kept by Army and Navy, now available on open access at The National Archives. These identify the issue of the London Gazette to consult.

3.1 The Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross register is in WO 98/8. For an alphabetical list of recipients of the Victoria Cross, August 1914-October 1920, see WO 98/6. You can access WO 98/8 on DocumentsOnline.

3.2 Army (and Royal Flying Corps) indexes

There are different name indexes for different awards. For common names, the regiment and regimental number may be needed as well:

3.3 The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Military Cross (MC): officers

The register of the DSO can be found in WO 390. However, extracts from pre-publication copies of announcements of awards of the DSO and MC in the London Gazette were pasted into volumes, in WO 389. These can include information removed for security reasons before publication, and annotations giving the date and place of the action for which the award was made. They are in order of the date of announcement of the award. A name index for those who were awarded the DSO and MC between 1915 and 1938 is in WO 389/9-24.

3.4 Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) index: other ranks and NCOs

The cards show the surname, initials, unit, rank and number of the individual. They refer by date to the London Gazette issue in which the award was announced.

Citations are given in full in the London Gazette, except for DCMs awarded among the King's Birthday Honours.

3.5 Military Medal (MM) and Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) indexes: other ranks and NCOs

The cards (in two separate indexes) show the surname, forename(s) or initials, unit, rank and number of the individual, and in some cases the theatre of war in which he was serving when he earned the medal entitlement. They also refer, either by date, or by a number, or the term "Peace Gazette" to the London Gazette issue in which the award was announced (advice is available at The National Archives). In all but a handful of cases, the Gazette gives no more information than appears on the cards.

Citations are very occasionally given in full in the Gazette (e.g. for some nursing sisters who received the MM). There is nothing on the index cards to indicate whether or not a citation appears in full. No other records of citations for either of these medals are known to survive in official custody: recipients were told to look after their own copy, as it was unique.

3.6 Mentions in Despatches (MiDs) indexes

The MiD index cards are in WO 372/24, forming part of the same series as the medal index cards. Like the medal index cards they are available to view online in DocumentsOnline but are also accessible on microfiche in the reading rooms at The National Archives in Kew. The cards for MiDs were filed (and therefore filmed) in three separate alphabetical sequences and therefore, when searching through the microfiche slides, all three sequences may need to be checked. In a few cases, people mentioned in despatches were not entered in the index.

The cards show the surname, initials, unit, rank and number of the individual, and refer by date and page number to the London Gazette issue in which the mention appeared. The mention itself can be viewed through the London Gazette website but is usually no more than a name and won't reveal any details of why the award was merited. No records of citations are known to survive.

3.7 Royal Navy (and Royal Naval Air Service) and Royal Marines

Officers only: the original card indexes, covering all awards mentioned in the "honours sheets" (ADM 171/78-88) are on open access at the The National Archives. They give name, rank, award or honour, date of the London Gazette, and service with dates.

Other ranks: there is an index for the Distinguished Service Medal and the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal in ADM 171/75.

Recommendations are in ADM 1 (accessed by using ADM 12) and ADM 116.

I had found the Australian documents on the AWM website, and the recommendations I was looking for, for the people concerned in the AIF.

I shall keep on searching for the specific people.

Mark