Officer's medals

[Jim Strawbridge]

Can anyone explain to me why officer's medals had to be claimed whilst those in the ranks had theirs sent automatically? Surely officer's medals could have been dispatched automatically, too.

[Sepoy]

An interesting question......

[Khaki]

Hello Jim,

I don't think other ranks medals were sent out automatically, there was an official letter sent to the last known address of the enlisted man detailing his length of service, theatre of service and medal entitlement it also requested the soldier to confirm the correctness of the details and endorse the form with his signature and return it to the appropriate army department. It also requested the recipient to ensure that the army were notified of any change of address. I have seen a copy of this form.

I hope this is of interest to you.

khaki

[Old Owl]

I believe that medals to other rank fatal casualties were sent out automatically and I believe that the same applied to o/r survivors, although Khaki may be correct in that survivors were first sent a form to confirm their details were correct prior to the medals being issued. I have personally however never come across any evidence of this and there are no annotations on o/r MIC's to suggest this happened--or at least not that I have come across.

As regards medals to commissioned officers, it would appear that these had to be claimed regardless of whether or not the officer was a fatal casualty--possibly the authorities thought that an officer or his Nok would be more able to apply than an o/r or his Nok--not very PC!! Other than that, I can think of no logical reason.

Robert

[spof]

You also have to think opf the scale of the undertaking. A "few" officers could be managed manually but I can't see Records Offices coping with IVs, CRVs and all the other associated paperwork for the millions of ORs who earned the medals.

Looking at earlier medal rolls, there doesn't seem to be any references to applications from officers so maybe in smaller campaigns they were also sent out automatically. A medals expert should know.

Glen

[Chris_Baker]

Noooo! There was no form sent out to check details for despatch of medals, regardless of the status of the recipient. You may be thinking of the Final Verification Form or the form that checked information for despatch of the plaque and scroll to the next of kin of the men who died. Not for medals. There will be an Army Order specifying why an officer or his next of kin had to claim the campaign medals. I'll see if I can can find it.

EDIT: Army Order 350 of 1917. Does not explain why. Clause 7 of the order just says officers will claim and explains where they should send their claim.

Edited 30 July , 2013 by Chris_Baker

[Khaki]

Hello everyone,

Perhaps I was mistaken in believing that all British and Dominion procedures were the same and it now surprises me that they are not, but in respect of the form that I am aware of, it was in fact attached to a Dominion personal file along with attestation form, medical records, discipline and demobilsation details etc. I guess it is natural for the bulk of members who are British to relate to the structural procedures that they are familiar with.and be unaware, as I was, that there can be significant departures even though we are talking about the exact same medals issued under the same regulations. An interesting learning curve , as they say.

regards

khaki

[Old Owl]

Noooo! There was no form sent out to check details for despatch of medals, regardless of the status of the recipient. You may be thinking of the Final Verification Form or the form that checked information for despatch of the plaque and scroll to the next of kin of the men who died. Not for medals. There will be an Army Order specifying why an officer or his next of kin had to claim the campaign medals. I'll see if I can can find it.

EDIT: Army Order 350 of 1917. Does not explain why. Clause 7 of the order just says officers will claim and explains where they should send their claim.

This would mean that an officer or his Nok would have to be notified that this was the case, or did they have to suss this out themselves? Surely this would have created another layer of unneccessary paperwork--wouldn't it just have been easier to treat all ranks in the same way?

[Chris_Baker]

As far as I can tell - no Army Order and no evidence in any of the officers records I have ever seen - there was no notification sent to say that the man was eligible. The rules were published in the newspapers and would of course have become general public knowledge.

[Old Owl]

As far as I can tell - no Army Order and no evidence in any of the officers records I have ever seen - there was no notification sent to say that the man was eligible. The rules were published in the newspapers and would of course have become general public knowledge.

Thanks Chris. As usual the jungle telegraph would reduce admin costs considerably--although this also may explain why some medals were never applied for, nor issued.

Robert

[Jim Strawbridge]

Thank you all for your comments.

[rflory]

It is obvious that a number of next of kin and even, surviving officers, never requested their Great War medals. Lt-Col Edward Robert Burne, RFA served in South Africa and during the Great War receiving the DSO in January 1916, but was killed by a sniper in October 1918. He received his QSA and Memorial Plaque but his next of kin never requested, nor were issued, his 1914 Star/Bar trio for the Great War. Lt-Col Frank Sulis Evans, RFA received the DSO in 1917 and the French Croix de Guerre. He was invalided out of the service in March 1918 and returned to his home in Canada. He received his DSO and the French decoration but never applied for, or received his 1914-1915 Star trio. So even senior officers (or their next of kin) never applied for their Great War medals.

Dick Flory

[clive_hughes]

It is also curious to me (having collected medals years ago and handled the Victorian era medal rolls) that officers did not even appear on the WW1 Medal Rolls unless and until they or their NoK applied for the gongs. So no MIC card was created either, if they didn't. Quite a departure from previous practice.

In an old medal collecting book by "Centurion" entitled Men Whose Fathers Were Men: The Story of a Hobby (A.H.Baldwin & Sons, London 1925) an official announcement from a contemporary newspaper is reproduced, telling WW1 medal claimants from specific regiments that it's time to send in their claims. I never quite grasped which medals were being advertised in this way - was it for officers?...or 1914 Star clasps? Anyone know please?

Clive