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Remembered Today:

Russian MC recipient Brusilov Offensive


flyingvisit

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Hi. I'm UK based and am asking this question for a Russian national whose great-great-grandfather received the Military Cross during the Brusilov Offensive. There are no papers with the MC in their possession, nor anything on the medal itself.

 

Someone has said to them that the descendants of the owner of this cross have the right of free education in the UK. This isn't something I've heard of, so am hoping those more knowledgeable than me might know if this was something ever promised, or not?
 

Any information would be gratefully received.

 

Thank you in advance!

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Ive never heard that about the Military Cross before

 

whats the recipients name ?

the medal was awarded unnamed etc as standard

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Hi. I do not have his name at the moment and was really just asking the question in general to see if there was any truth to it, or not. Given the state of education in the UK today, I doubt that any promise would be honoured, but it would be interesting to know if it was the case. Thanks for the reply though, it's appreciated.

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There appears to be limited documentation of lists of Tsar Nicholas's subjects who received British gallantry awards, and what there is pre-dates the Brusilov Offensive.

 

Reference:    WO 388/6/14
Description:    British to foreign: Russia - London Gazette.

Date:    1915 Jan 19 - 1915 June 25

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14727855

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4 hours ago, flyingvisit said:

Hi. I do not have his name at the moment and was really just asking the question in general to see if there was any truth to it, or not. Given the state of education in the UK today, I doubt that any promise would be honoured, but it would be interesting to know if it was the case. Thanks for the reply though, it's appreciated.

 

I would say the cost of education rather than the state of it (what ever that means) would be the prohibitive factor then and now. Esp given that the MC isnt the highest gallantry award or a rare one.

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There is no stipend or associated benefit of any kind with an Officers Gallantry award, let alone extended to family members. Someone has created a family myth about this.

 

For some long service and early MSM's and some DCM's  in the pre WW I era came with a 10 pound a year annuity but as the awards became more prevalent this was discontinued for the duration of the war. In more recent times there have been stipends introduced for Victoria Cross and George Cross recipients.

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21 hours ago, scottmarchand said:

There is no stipend or associated benefit of any kind with an Officers Gallantry award, let alone extended to family members. Someone has created a family myth about this.

 

For some long service and early MSM's and some DCM's  in the pre WW I era came with a 10 pound a year annuity but as the awards became more prevalent this was discontinued for the duration of the war. In more recent times there have been stipends introduced for Victoria Cross and George Cross recipients.

VC and GC always carried a small financial award I believe. It was (finally) increased relatively recently. DCM certainly continued to have the annuity into the First World War, the files relating to the creation of the Military Medal show that one of the considerations was the fact it wouldn't have any payment associated with it, as I wrote in a blog post on the creation of the MM: "The new medal was to have no gratuity attached to it (unlike the VC and DCM), and therefore, since it would reduce the number of DCMs being awarded, ‘it will probably be more an economy than expense’."

 

There has perhaps been confusion along the way with American Medal of Honor which I believe allows the holder's children to attend a service academy.

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