Date of issue of campaign medals

[vmk1972]

Perhaps unusually for this forum, I am interested in achieving credible fiction rather than researching individuals.  Whilst I’m generally familiar with the award of campaign medals, I am far less clear on the mechanics of actual issue, other than that it was a very big task with priority being given to those still in uniform.  Any advice on these scenarios would be greatly appreciated:

Enlisted Sept 1914; to France July 1915 in a K2 division; transferred to MGC on formation; demobilised as serjeant Feb 1919.  Is there a reasonable probability that he would have any of his three campaign medals by November 1921?  My sense from cursory reading is that it’s possible although perhaps not likely, but confirmation either way most appreciated.

Similar situation to the above, but killed in action July 1916.  Once again, in the late autumn of 1921, is the widow likely to have received medals (i.e. were next of kin prioritised over survivors, or vice versa, or neither)?

Lastly, I have been assuming that an officer by the end of the war was an officer for medal purposes, but just to check: if a man with service as an OR in 1915 was commissioned in 1916, would he need to apply for his ‘14’-15 Star, as an officer, or would it be an automatic award due to not being an officer when earned?  (The background to this one is a chap disillusioned enough not to apply, but probably not so bitter as to return a medal once it’s arrived, and my wanting to know what personal effects are likely to be lurking in a neglected drawer.)

 

Many thanks in advance.

[Keith_history_buff]

Hello,

If you can give the name of your soldier who was a sergeant in the MGC, it should be possible to provide a definitive answer, based upon information from the medal index card, supplemented by the medal roll, too.

Thanks

 

[Knotty]

3 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said:

If you can give the name of your soldier who was a sergeant in the MGC

Hi Keith

I think that the original poster is after a hypothetical medal date issue rather than exact date for a known individual, he is creating fictional scenarios and is hoping that his assumptions will be correct for the receiving of the campaign medals.

Vmk1972, I look forward to reading the replies, as you have set some interesting settings.

[TEW]

Not sure there is a man to look up 'credible fiction'.

1914-15 Star could easily have been received by late 1921. The BWM & VM are a bit more difficult. You could EG. trawl MGC service records picking out the medal receipts to see when they were sent out and the receipt returned. I think late 1921 is a bit early.

Not aware of any priority given to deceased, NOK or survivors.

Officer scenario. Not 100% on this one but I think his Star could be sent out automatically as an OR. If he didn't put in an application he would not get the pair. Quite often though you see duplicate issues in this scenario where an application was made.

Today there are no drawers for anything to lurk in. If an officer didn't apply no medal would have been earmarked for him. Returned medals scrapped long ago.

TEW

[Keith_history_buff]

25657 William Hurley started with an infantry regiment, and later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. His 1914-15 Star entry on the MGC medal roll states his prior service number and unit. This page of the roll was compiled on 30 April 1920. His entry on the MGC BWM & VM roll is 16 March 1920. 

There is the question of when the medals were actually issued. If you had an example of a soldier whose service record has survived, there could be on file the confirmation of when the medals were actually available and subsequently distributed. The 1914 Star was issued in 1921 to NOK, even though soldiers still serving had been issued their riband in 1918.

[vmk1972]

Many thanks fpr the swift replies.

This is really one of those suspension of disbelief things - I'm anxious to avoid alienating anyone who knows the period by having medals around at an implausibly early date; or conversely having someone turn up at the Armistice parade not wearing his Star if they had largely been issued by that point.

I suppose I could dig ifar enough into 53 MG Coy to identify someone whose backstory more or less fits my protagonist, but (a) it's a lot of work, and (b) purloining a real individual's experience wholesale for something as frivolous as detective fiction feels a bit off to me, so I'd rather stick to balance of probabilities.

[TEW]

It's really down to how the MGC records office dealt with the rolls and medals. Companies could be irrelevant as the rolls may be by surname or number.

The dates for Hurley's two rolls are very close so it may be the MGC records were efficient in their work. Other examples can show years not months between the two.

I doubt it would take long to find a service record with some real dates.

TEW

[TEW]

23058 Cowieson MGC. BWM & VM roll compiled 20/2/1920. Acknowledged receipt of the pair 21/2/1921.

85809 Crame (died of wounds 1917). Roll dated 3/7/1920, wife acknowledged receipt of the pair 1/5/1922. Different address noted which may have delayed things.

S4/042285 Dowden of RASC. Commissioned into MGC 1917. Star roll dated 30/8/1920. Pair roll as Sgt. dated 22/12/1920. Pair actually issued from MGC officer roll and not issued till 1925. MIC suggests all three medals sent out 1925. He may have applied in 1922.

For officers in general there are issue vouchers for the pair dated June 1921. I think they must have had those by Autumn 1921. I guess you're covered regarding balance of probabilities that officers' claims issues etc. were governed by the date of their application.

TEW

 

[Keith_history_buff]

I could only find one item of interest in relation to medals in the Army Council Instructions for 1921.
ACI 357 of 1921 dated 2nd June 1921 "Issue of 1914, and 1914-15 Stars."

It would appear nothing else was published until the following year, with ACI 114 of 1922 being annotated in pencil on the page.
 

[Keith_history_buff]

Not Machine Gun Corps, but...

13009 Robert Williams, South Wales Borderers was medically discharged during the war, and has a surviving service record.

I'm more used to seeing the returned receipts, but this item of paperwork documents the date the British War Medal was issued in the post.

Image courtesy FindMyPast.