Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Peace Medal


Tim Hill

Recommended Posts

Hi All

My colleague at work has recently come into possession of a number of family medals after a distant relative passed away. The majority have been easy enough to identify, but there is one that has eluded me! It believe that it is a Peace Medal, but I have had no luck in tracking down where it originated. I've attached a couple of images here - 

image.jpeg.a572ba285ad220e7b9f1b2cef222bf6e.jpegimage.jpeg.f8ee03c964de023d7fd6e4cb95965e2b.jpeg

I have seen an identical medal on offer on ebay, but it gave no details of the origin of the medal. 

My colleague knows some of the people who's named medals were in the collection but not where they lived, while other people were unknown to him. It was among some mayoral medals from Winchester dating from the mid 1930's but there is no certainty that those medals and the Peace Medal were from the same person.

I understand that there were a large numbers of these made by cities and towns across the country and that it may not be identifiable, but can anyone shed any light on where this may have come from?

Thank you and kind regards

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi GreyC

Thanks for coming back on this. I must confess that I had not come across these before my colleague brought it into the office - I am more familiar with (although by absolutely no means an expert on) military medals. I have seen examples of Peace Medals which are marked with the town or city that issued them, but this one seems more anonymous, The Canada, India, Australia and Africa legends are also a bit different to any others that I've seen. My first thought, probably wrong, is that it may have been for Commonwealth issue but my colleague has no knowledge of any family members serving in Commonwealth services - all that he knows of were in the British army. 

Kind regards

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tim Hill said:

I understand that there were a large numbers of these made by cities and towns across the country and that it may not be identifiable, but can anyone shed any light on where this may have come from?

Hi Tim,

You are spot on with the frequency of production - large numbers.  I'm afraid I cannot identify yours but I can say it is certainly not such a common version. 

My local version is sadly just that and it's familiar obverse (below left) appears throughout the land.  I did manage to track a period reason for award from the Bethlehem Unitarian Church calender No 129 of August 1919 which records in detail "At dusk, fireworks displays were given on Seat Naze, and other places, and a bonfire on Cribden.  As a memento, all scholars under 14 received a medal, the gift of the Mayor and Mayoress of the Borough (of Rawtenstall).  Altogether a most enjoyable day was spent by everyone."

You may find that a similar, not so military criteria, may likely apply.  

Regards T.A. 

image.pngimage.png.098ed93e92e263ed778314eb9a9ccf91.png

Edited by TullochArd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks TullochArd - that is interesting. I have seen some sites that say that they were for returning military, while others have suggested that they were frequently issued by local authorities as souvenirs for local children. It may well be that both ideas are valid, but certainly the item that you mention tends to confirm that the civilian awards to children did happen. 

The medal collection that he has inherited is a real mixture - a WW1 Victory medal for a man known to my colleague, a Mercantile Marine Victory and a British War Medal for another, more distant, relative, this Peace Medal, a WW2 Kings Badge, the Winchester Mayoral Medals that I mentioned before and a commemorative medallion for Queen Victoria's 60 year reign. There were also some Bus Company medals for long service and two 'Safe Driving' medals from the mid 1930's and the immediate post war, both with a series of clasps each representing one more year of safe driving! Unfortunately they were all in one box so the provenance of some is very hard to establish....

Kind regards

Tim 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Tim Hill said:

 It may well be that both ideas are valid, but certainly the item that you mention tends to confirm that the civilian awards to children did happen. 

Absolutely possible. 

In my case most recent accepted Family Lore knowledgably explained the memento was awarded to my Grandfather for service in the Great War and it therefore sat with his medals for many a year.  Locating the family's Church calendar entry refutes that assumption and provided proof that it was indeed awarded to his eldest daughter - a fact lost in time to all of us. 

Regardless of the new conclusive evidence the consensus still swings to the former explanation.

I must say the very broad Empire connection on yours is untypically anonymous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again that's an interesting snippet! I have researched many of my own family from WW1 and I've never come across these, but if they were frequently civilian issue and not named I would only have known of them if one had survived and someone knew what it was and who it was given to.

I will ask my colleague if he knows of any children of school age that he knows of in his family in 1919. I know he has done some family tree work so he is not a complete novice, and he may have a handle on it - it's probably a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack but it may just point him in the right direction!

I really appreciate your input - thank you

Kind regards

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...