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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Village war medal.


Tony Lund

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A letter in the local paper asks for information on a village medal awarded to all men who served in the Great War from the little Yorkshire village of Emley The medal has the words Emley War Service on a blue enamel border, the centre is in gold with an embossed image of the Emley Cross, the reverse has the name of the recipient. Any information would be most welcome.

Tony.

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hi, tony.

although i have never seen the emley medal it comes as no suprise. most of the small villages in that part of west yorks did them. however they have become very scarce as most of them were designed to hang on albert watch chains as fobs and a great many were melted down in the gold and silver boom in the 1970,s

i have a gold example issued by a flockton w.m.c (a smallish village not far from emley) silver examples issued by brotherton the lord mayor of wakefield in 1919 to men from the city of wakefield. and i have also seen examples from lepton w.m.c,osset,and of course the common brighouse one. you may put me right put didnt huddersfield do a unnamed white metal peace/welcome home medal?

cheers

andrew

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hi, again tony

as a after thought a member of the denby dale collectors society is a expert on emley local history. i carnt remember his name? but the society used to meet at the junior school nr the baths in scisscet

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The town of Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire issued a medal to all Bradfordians who served in WW1. It was designed by the local Jewellers wife.

Dave

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Fascinating. I had no idea such things existed. This is the value of the forum.

Are there any more examples known to Pals? Did the medals go to survivors only or to NOK as well? If any of these medal lists survive in town halls or in archives, they will provide the perfect local guide to those who served and survived.

If anyone can manage an image or two, I would love to see them.

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Clive

I am currently working away from home but will post scans of photos of the Bradford-on-Avon one at the weekend.

Dave

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Clive,

There are many such examples of these medals, Birmingham, Norwich, Lincoln,Southend too name a few. Whether they were given to next of kin i could not tell you.

Andy

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Clive

I am currently working away from home but will post scans of photos of the Bradford-on-Avon one at the weekend.

Dave

Great. I look forward to that.

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Clive,

There are many such examples of these medals, Birmingham, Norwich, Lincoln,Southend too name a few. Whether they were given to next of kin i could not tell you.

Andy

Remembrance, homecoming and social consequences are my main interests but I still had no inkling of these medals. Can't beat the forum!

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The following's a link to photographs including the Burgh of Callander War Tribute Medal awarded to Pte. W. F. Brown 9/R.Highrs. I posted it some time ago but thought it might be of interest.

Tribute Medal

Best wishes,

Derek

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I have seen several differant "Town" medals from Canada, A town north of me ( Orillia) was clearing up some of its old files and came across a box of WW1 Wecolme home medals. They have been auctuining them off on ebay.

Dean

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Is this the sort of thing you mean from Birmingham?

Ian - I have one of those medals and thought they were given to schoolchildren etc to mark the end of the war. I hadn't thought about them being only given to returning service personnel (or NoK), is this case with all WWI Tribute Medals do you know?

I do have a named one in my collection, along with the man's medals and I'll post a picture in the next day or so.

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hi, all

its my experience that these welcome home/tribute medals fall in to 2 or possibly 3 distinct types.

1)well made examples in gold/silver/bronze given by the local community to returning servicemen/women. as a gift of thanks often named or intended to be named and backed up by a certificate.

2) pore quality examples made of lead/white metal given in 1919 to school children to commemeration the 1919 peace treaty. normaly unnamed .

3)standard silver or gold watch fobs that have been engraved to fit the occasion normaly very small issues.

hope that all helps.

cheers

andrew

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hi, lee

the brighouse one you illustrate was awarded to all returning servicemen and women from brighouse and district including rastrick. it was also given to the n.o.k of all war service casualtys. they were presented in large numbers at large public gatherings. until about 1923. and the local brighouse paper ran articles with long lists of recipients but no other details other than what was inscribed on the reverse of the medal. i have seen them to all 3 branches of the services and many varied british and colonial units.

hope thats of interest?

cheers

andrew

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Andrew - Thanks for that info. It was always the 'extra' medal attached to the pair, now you've added a little more to it.

When I first saw the other 'medal' I thought it was a Chinese medallion, at first glance it has that look, until you actually see what the obverse shows (the reverse is plain). It wasn't bad for a couple of quid though.

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I'm afraid that my scanner is on the blink - so picture quality is not the best.

Here is the Bradford-on-Avon Medal (obverse view) in its presentation box. The book Bradford-on-Avon a pictorial record states that the boxed medal was accommpanied by a typed card containing the following wording:

The Men and Women of Bradford-on-Avon, your fellow Townspeople, send you the accompanying Medal, which they hope you will accept as a slight token of their gratitude for the part you took in helping to save our Country and to bring the War to a successful termination and as an appreciation of the many hardships and losses you endured

Reverse view follows.

Dave

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The Reverse of the Medal which shows the bridge over the River Avon in the centre of the town with its 17th. century 'blind house (lock-up) which has two cells.' It actually hangs over the river.

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