Consicuous Sea Gallantry Medal

[bobdav999]

Hi

I don't know if anyone can help. This site was recommended by a fellow researcher. We have just started to research our family history. Sadly we have come unstuck with a grandfather, Henry Davies. It's a long shot but we know that Henry had a brother who was awarded a Gallantry Medal at Sea. The brothers name was Davies (don't have a first name) - and he was possibly born late 1800s early 1900s. His father was James. Can anyone tell me if there is a site which lists recipients of these medals that we can search. We believe he probably served in the first world war - not really sure if he was eligible for second. Any crumb of information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Bob

[Ian grant]

Hi

I don't know if anyone can help. This site was recommended by a fellow researcher. We have just started to research our family history. Sadly we have come unstuck with a grandfather, Henry Davies. It's a long shot but we know that Henry had a brother who was awarded a Gallantry Medal at Sea. The brothers name was Davies (don't have a first name) - and he was possibly born late 1800s early 1900s. His father was James. Can anyone tell me if there is a site which lists recipients of these medals that we can search. We believe he probably served in the first world war - not really sure if he was eligible for second. Any crumb of information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Bob

Hi Bob,

I've been researching my family for some years now, and know the temptation to try and shoot ahead as quickly as possible is almost irrestible, But i have have to say you're putting the cart before the horse here, identifying your man with the info you have is impossible, you may well find several men who served in the Royal Navy, Royal marines, or the Merchantile Marine RNR, or RNVR with gallantry medals by the name of Davies, and your not 100% which war it was or the medal that was awarded, Maybe it was neither war !!! - could have concievably been in between. My advice is go back to the begining and do the genealogy first. Collect together all the info you can on your family, from your own and extended family talk to all your relatives not just older ones about what they know. Then obtain working from yourself, all your direct families birth marriage & death certs until you can go no further. Then if you wish you can start expanding the family using censuses in your Grandfathers case, and his brother, the 1901 census is most useful, it takes detective work, but if they appear on the census you now have at least a full name and an age to work with, and a birth cert for your man will be easy to find. If there is no entry on the 1901 census for him, check out the births in the same district as Henry Davies and put a check on the application for a birth cert of the same parents as Henry Davies, with luck he will be registered in the same district, you'll likley turn up other siblings as well, once you have his birth you have something concrete to identify him with, i.e Full Name, D.O.B, Place of Birth, that you can use to corroborate his identity when searching for his records which will be held by the National Archives at Kew, you will find their website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk , i would also recommend you read everything on genealogy you can lay your hands on, particularly the monthly magazine Family History, which has a wealth of info about tracing your family tree, using record offices, searching military records, using censuses, Etc, Etc, once you are at the stage of tracing military or naval records this site will be invaluable for information and help, but first things first, find out all you can about your man first, or you'll be banging your head off a very hard brick wall Best of luck to you Bob .

Regards

Ian.

[Kath]

There is a site & I can't find it again! * EDIT:WRONG - I was thinking of this:http://www.lsars.eurobell.co.uk/rolls.htm

I include it anyway as it's interesting.

Try:http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/GALLANTRY-AWARDS

Bernard de Neumann has done a lot on these:

de.Neumann@btinternet.com

Best find the first name before anything else.

Kath.

* Edit again! I was right. The Site I meant:

http://ca.geocities.com/thomashemy@rogers.com/SGM001.html

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

I'm not sure to which medal you are referring ,there are two that are "covered" by your description,both very sparingly awarded:~

i}The Sea Gallantry Medal [inst.1854] awarded under the auspices of the Board of Trade to Merchant seamen for outstanding Gallantry @ sea.

awarded in Silver & Bronze,with under a 1000 of each being awarded in total from 1854~1969[during the period 1911~36 384 silver & 371 bronze were awarded]

ii} The Conspicious Gallantry Medal;1st instituted in 1855 then re~instituted 1874,as a conuterpart to the Army's DCM.

an extremely scarce award,with only 11 awards of the original 1855 type were made to 10 Recipients;With 234 awards from 1874~1946,with 60 to the RN,15 to RM,4 to RNAS,16 to RNR & 13 to RNVR,for the period 1914~1919.

Details of these awards are to be found in the London Gazette{CGM} or with the SGM it may prove more difficult as they werent "Gazetted" in the main until after 1926,but were promulgated through Board of Trade Press Releases to the Times & Provincial Newspapers.though I am sure there is a Printed source of both awards Recipients.

[Melui]

Bob,

If you know, at least roughly, when and where your grandfather died, I would look first in the Death Index. If you can be sure you have found that - and it can be done even with Smiths! - then you will have an 'age at death' which will help you pinpoint his birth and also to find him / his family on Censuses.

Another route is to find his marriage. Presumably you know the name of his wife:- from 1912 onwards, the marriage Index gives the surname of the spouse, so you can double-check that you have the correct marriage. With the marriage certificate in hand, you should then know the age at marriage (although it has been known for people to lie about their age occasionally).

If you don't even know the name of Henry's wife, then you have to start with the subsequent generation - the birth registration of one of those will give the mother's maiden surname.

Happy hunting!

Marion