Medal Index Card annotation (Police)

[dravin]

Hi all

Not a man I am researching but from a facebook enquiry 

 

On a mans medal index card it shows "Ret'd (Police) CRV 93/Bd/ 10.11.26

                                                                                        NW/4/14470

 

Of particular interest is the "(Police)" , anyone come across this on other cards? I can't recall seeing it 

 

Returned *by* the Police perhaps but why and in 1926?

 

Any suggestions what the police involvement was ?

 

[ss002d6252]

Looks like the medal was returned - perhaps the 'police' reference is a note of who had returned the medal to the War Office.

Craig

[dravin]

Thanks for yours, yes that was one train of thought

 

I just haven't come across it before so wondered if anyone else had to perhaps give a clue as to why

 

It seemed quite late to return medals if it was for non delivery, someone suggested they may have been found or handed in to the police and they then returned them

 

I wondered if the police would have bothered to do that as surely it must have happened on quite a few occasions

 

My initial thought was if the medals had been forfeited (crime or whatever) and the police had collected them for return, but again i am not sure they would have been involved

[ss002d6252]

13 minutes ago, dravin said:

Thanks for yours, yes that was one train of thought

 

I just haven't come across it before so wondered if anyone else had to perhaps give a clue as to why

 

It seemed quite late to return medals if it was for non delivery, someone suggested they may have been found or handed in to the police and they then returned them

 

I wondered if the police would have bothered to do that as surely it must have happened on quite a few occasions

 

My initial thought was if the medals had been forfeited (crime or whatever) and the police had collected them for return, but again i am not sure they would have been involved

Where medals are forfeit the records are usually pretty clear in that respect.

Craig

[butler]

I have seen it a few times, more so with SWBs. Property found in the street and handed to police can be claimed by the finder after 30 days if not claimed by the loser. However property with an identifiable owner,  eg medals and SWBs would not be considered suitable to return to a finder and so would be forwarded to the medal office as an outcome in the police property found register. I think it is more common with SWBs as these would have been worn daily by men whereas medals were usually only worn on specific occasions and so more likely to become lost.

 

I think, once issued, and the man was no longer serving, that campaign medals could not be forfeited.

 

I have also seen an entry where a Military Medal and WW1 medals were returned to a medal office by police who had arrested an ex soldier for fraudulently wearing them.

[dravin]

3 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

Where medals are forfeit the records are usually pretty clear in that respect.

Craig

 

I would agree, sadly the poster only put up that small section of the MIC so am unsure what if anything else was on the card, or the medal rolls etc

[ss002d6252]

 

Quote

I think, once issued, and the man was no longer serving, that campaign medals could not be forfeited.

They could be. You do see cases post war of medals being forfeited by ex-soldiers.

Craig

[dravin]

1 minute ago, butler said:

I have seen it a few times, more so with SWBs. Property found in the street and handed to police can be claimed by the finder after 30 days if not claimed by the loser. However property with an identifiable owner,  eg medals and SWBs would not be considered suitable to return to a finder and so would be forwarded to the medal office as an outcome in the police property found register. I think it is more common with SWBs as these would have been worn daily by men whereas medals were usually only worn on specific occasions and so more likely to become lost.

 

I think, once issued, and the man was no longer serving, that campaign medals could not be forfeited.

 

I have also seen an entry where a Military Medal and WW1 medals were returned to a medal office by police who had arrested an ex soldier for fraudulently wearing them.

 

Yes I agree, SWBs I have certainly seen some evidence of being returned, but they were a bit more important to the original owner, first at it might protect them to a degree, and second as they couldn't get a replacement

 

Medals being issued later I was not so sure of but you may well be right