WWI Medals - British War Medal and Victory Medal

There were five World War I campaign medals in all

The 1914 Star (also known as the Mons Star)  Nicknamed 'Pip'
The 1914-15 Star                               Nicknamed 'Pip'
The British War Medal 1914-1918     Nicknamed 'Squeak'
The Allied Victory Medal                    Nicknamed 'Wilfred'
The Territorial Force War Medal 1914-1919

('Pip', 'Squeak', and 'Wilfred' were popular cartoon characters in the Daily Mail.  (In the cartoons, by A B Payne, Pip was a dog, Squeak a penguin and Wilfred a young rabbit.)

The first two medals have been written about in this blog

The 1914 Star (also known as the Mons Star)
The 1914-15 Star


The following is about the British War Medal and the Victory Medal

The British War Medal

This is the most commonly issued WW I medal - to over 6,500,000 men (a more specific number given on one website is 6,610,000).  Approximately 4,700,000 medals were for distribution at home and another 600,000 for the Dominions and Colonies.  There was a hierarchy of medals as the silver version was issued to 6,400,000 people and the bronze version of 110,000 was issued to the Chinese, Maltese and Indian Labour Corps.

The medals were awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who were in service between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918, who served either in a theatre of war or served overseas, but to receive it the person must have left British shores.

The medal was established on the 26th July 1919, but later those men who served in Russia and Serbia in 1919 and 1920 were included.

The front showed the head of George V, and the recipient's service number, rank, name and unit were on the rim.  On the reverse is an image of St George.  The ribbon has a central band of golden yellow with three stripes of white, black and blue on both sides. The soldier's regiment and number were inscribed round the rim.

The Victory Medal

The Victory Medal was issued by each of the victorious Allied countries and the British medal was designed by William McMillan (who, incidentally, died in 1977).  On the front was a Winged Victory in a classical pose and on the reverse was the inscription 'The Great War for Civilisation'.  The medal was in bronze.

The medal was only awarded to all those entered a theatre of war, (unlike the British War Medal, which was given to men who served overseas - which included Indian Service), so it was awarded to 300,000 fewer men, with a total awarded of 5,725,000.  The medal was also awarded to men who fought in Russia and Trans-Caspia

All three services were eligible, including women for their service in nursing homes and auxiliary forces.  It was also awarded to the British naval mission to Russia (1919-1920) and for mine clearance in the North Sea between 11 November 1918 and 30 November 1919.

Online Records for the British War Medal and the Victory Medal

By far the most important source are The National Archives Medal Index Cards (in series WO 372) at

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/medal-index-cards-ww1.htm

There are over 5 million cards, most of which are for soldiers in the British Army.  The collection includes:

• most British Army officers
• Indian Army personnel
• British Army Nurses
• Royal Flying Corps personnel
• Royal Naval Division personnel
• some civilians

The Medal Index is also available Ancestry under the title 

'British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920' at

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1262


For a list of all medals on Ancestry and Findmypast go to
http://www.familyhistoryrecordsonline.com/military.html#medalsandhonours

WWI Medal - 1914-15 Star

There were five campaign medals issued during the First World War.  The first was the 1914 Star and a previous blog outlined the requirements and sources relating to the 1914 Star (also known as the Mons Medal), 

The post is at  http://familyhistoryrecordsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/wwi-1914-1914-star-mons-medal.html

The 1914-15 Star is the next medal that was awarded.

The 1914 Star / Mons Medal was awarded to those people who saw active service from the opening of the war on 5th August 1914 to midnight on November 22 1914.

The 1914-15 medal was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial forces who served 'in any theatre of war' against Germany or their allies, including naval operations, between 5th August 1914 and the 31 December 1915.  Whilst the large majority of service personnel would  have received it, it was not universal.  Exceptions included those who received the Africa General Service Medal or the Sudan 1910 Medal 

Notable inclusions for the awarding of the 1914-15 Star included those service personnel who fought at Gallipoli (25th April 1915 to 31 December 1915), in Egypt, and the capture of German Samoa on 29 August 1914.

However, a person could not hold both the 1914 Star and the 1914-15 Medal, so if the person had the 1914 Star Medal they would not receive the 1914-15 Medal. The cut off date for the award of the 1914 Star was midnight on the 22nd November 1914.

The reason that the 1914-15 Medal was awarded was that conscription started (under the Military Service Act 1916) on the 2nd March 1916, which stated that any man aged between 18 and 41 could be called up for military service. The 1914-15 Medal therefore recognised the men who had volunteered before conscription became compulsory. There were various exemptions (including, at first, married men) but over time the exemptions became fewer and fewer.

There are various estimates of the numbers awarded, with 2.35 or 2.4 million and the more precise 2,078,183 all being given on various websites.

The design was identical to the 1914 Star (though the words Aug and Nov were omitted and the scroll across the centre had the dates 1914-15 Star added).

The ribbon is also identical to that of the 1914 Star, being red, white and blue stripes on watered silk. Also like the 1914 Star the soldier's regiment and number were inscribed on the flat face on the rear of the Star.

Medal Index Cards

By far the most important source are The National Archives Medal Index Cards (in series WO 372) at

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/medal-index-cards-ww1.htm

There are over 5 million cards, most of which are for soldiers in the British Army.  The collection includes:

• most British Army officers
• Indian Army personnel
• British Army Nurses
• Royal Flying Corps personnel
• Royal Naval Division personnel
• some civilians

The Medal Index is also available Ancestry under the title 

'British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920' at

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1262


For a list of all medals on Ancestry and Findmypast go to
http://www.familyhistoryrecordsonline.com/military.html#medalsandhonours

On the Medal Cards the 1914-15 Star was often written 15 Star in the stamped box (top right) and could also be described in the hand written text below (in this case in the section 'Action Taken').

WWI Army Abbreviations

First World War Army Abbreviations are of four main sorts

1) Generally in use across the Army but need explanation and description
2) Publication specific
3) So rare or specialist that they do not appear in any list
4) So commonly known that they don't appear in any list.

To take each in turn:

1) Generally in use across the Army but need explanation and description

These abbreviations are readily found through abbreviation lists on the web.  There are many good sites of which some of the longer ones are:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/records/abbreviations-in-world-war-one-medal-index-cards-rank.pdf

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/records/abbreviations-in-world-war-one-medal-index-cards-unit.pdf
 
http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/general-interest/881-abreviations-army-list.html
 
http://www.1914-1918.net/abbrev.htm
 
http://www.thelincolnshireregiment.org/abbreviations.shtml

The first - the National Archives - is Medal index specific, but most are similar lists.

2) Publication Specific

These are publication specific, for example, the Jan-Mar Army list for 1914 has the following:

3) So rare or specialist that they do not appear in any list

These can be difficult to track down and often specialist help is required.

4) So commonly known that they don't appear in any list.

There are some abbreviations that are so 'obvious' that they do not appear on any lists.  'Obvious', that is, unless you don't know them.  So for example there are the abbreviations in the Army List of 'R Art' and 'R Mar'.  These don't appear in the standard abbreviation lists indicating that they are either very obscure of very common.  Googling the terms indicate they are very common.

And it is these are abbreviations which, once you know them, are 'ah-ha' moments, for of course they mean 'Royal Artillery' and 'Royal Marines'.

WWI - Army Lists UK

One of the best sources of information about army officers (unfortunately it is only officers, and not all ranks) are the Army Lists.  These were produced regularly from the early 19th century and by the time of the First World War were an established feature of the army records.  

There is an excellent - free - resource of Army Lists at Archive.org. 

(There are also Army Lists on Google Books and a series (the same at on archive.org - but in a different display) at the National Library of Scotland (http://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/pageturner.cfm?id=88735803))

I have listed the archive.org First World War Army Lists at

http://www.familyhistoryrecordsonline.com/military-WWI.html#armylists-WWI

I have a longer list running through the 19th and 20th Century at

http://www.familyhistoryrecordsonline.com/military.html#armylists

The First World Army Lists are the Quarterly volumes.  There were also monthly volumes which had slightly different information in them (see below).

The Army Lists ran to different numbers of volumes with up to three volumes as the number of officers increased as the war progressed.

This is the title page of the Army List for January to the end of March 1914.

The smaller writing under 'With an Index' gives important information about the different types of Army List and what they contain.

• Details regarding the Staff, Regimental Lists, Reserve of Officers ... are published in the Monthly Army List
• The latter two (ie Orders of Knighthood and Foreign Orders) in the January, April, July and October issues only of that publication.
• The War Services of Officers are published in the January issue only of this Army List.

The whole volume has 1989 pages and a detailed index which looks like

At the top it states 'References to the Graduation Lists are in Heavy Type'

Taking a surname at random, the references to Clayton are:

Notice that index numbers go further than the total page numbers.  This is because within some of the lists there are several columns per page and each column is referenced in the index, or some pages have more than one page number.

The following screen shows the standard archive.org screen setup.

This volume is at: https://archive.org/details/armylistapr1914grea

Click the page expansion button (bottom right, next to the back or left arrow) and the following style of screen appears.

The pages can be found either through placing the cursor on the pages on the left (or right) hand side which indicates the page number, or by moving the hand at the bottom along the line.

However, a warning.  As noted  above the numbers in the index are not the page numbers, so there is an amount of narrowing down the page numbers until the correct one is found. 

Alternatively, use the search box 'Search inside' to search for the names - the instances are shown on the 'hand bar' below. Searching of 'Clayton' will give all instances of the word.

The first on the list is Clayton AB which gives - once the correct index reference is found - the following half page

The top heading shows that he is a Lieutenant and then the columns give the relevant information, including Date of Birth and First Appointment.  The crossed swords by his surname shows that he has seen previous action.

The second page shows the Army Veterinary Department.  

Above the unit title is the wording Non-Effective Officers. This indicates officers who have retired from service

The Army Lists also include a large section called 'Forces of the Oversea Dominions and Colonies'

Note that the page numbers in this section have the number, and then pages number a), b), c) and d).

Another section is the is Warrant Officers in Receipt of Pensions, with helpfully the date when the pension was first received.

There are of course many other sections, but this gives a flavour of the sections within the Army Lists.

And finally ... there is one aspect that needs explanation - abbreviations, of which I have written a separate blog.

WWI Medal - 1914 Star / Mons Medal

As it is approaching the now famous 'Christmas truce' and the football match between the English and German soldiers fighting in the muddy and cold trenches along the front line, it is a good time to reflect and look at 1914 Star - the campaign medal for the opening months of the First World War.

Background

With war brewing for the months before its opening campaigns in August all sides had had a chance to prepare for war.  The German grand plan (known as the Schlieffen Plan after the German General who had devised it) was to go round the army and defences which France had been building up along the German border in preparation for another war against Germany.   The Germans took advantage of the lack of French forces along the Belgium border and attacked through Belgium.  As Belgium's neutrality had been guaranteed by Britain, the British sent units of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) to Belgium and France in early August.

The opening campaign was a crushing victory for the Germans and whilst there were moments of heroism by the British forces, the allied forces were pushed back in an action known as either the Great Retreat or the Retreat from Mons. The Allied lines were finally stabilised about 200 miles from their original positions along the Rivers Marne and Aisne.

With the lightning strike on Paris not now feasible, the German army raced to Channel coast, both to seize re-supply ports, but also to try to out-flank the Allied lines.  One area which stood between the Germans and the sea was the higher ground round the Medieval city of Ypres (or 'Wipers' as it became known to the English).  The First Battle of Ypres (there were four in all) was the result of a massive German attack along a long front, which the allies managed to halt and hold the line.  It was a significant defensive victory and meant that the Germans could not encircle the Allies nor gain significant Channel ports, such as Calais.

The early days of very mobile warfare had passed and by Christmas defensive trench warfare had become the norm.   It was from these trenches that the soldiers emerged at Christmas to play their famous match.

1914 Star (the Mons Star)

There are a great many sources for the background history of First World war (Wikipedia is a good starting point).  For family historians a key record for the early weeks of the war is that regarding the awarding of the Mons Star medal. 

The Mons Star was the nick name for the correctly named '1914 Star'.  The same medal could also be called 'Pip' - as it was often awarded with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal - the trio of which were called 'Pip, Squeak and Wilfred'.

The 1914 Star covered the first 16 weeks of the war and included

• The Battle of Mons
• The retreat to the Seine
• The Battle of Le Cateau
• The Battle of the Marne
• The Battle of Aisne
• The First Battle of Ypres

The 1914 Star was awarded to servicemen and women and civilians of the British and Indian Forces who saw service in France and Belgium between the 5th August and 22 November 1914. Any personnel arriving on the 23rd November or later were not eligible for the 1914 Star, but where awarded the 1914/15 Star (which will be covered in a later blog).

As well as the Army this included the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve  The 1914 Star was authorised in April 1917 by King George V.  In all 365,622 Mons Stars were issued. Whilst the front was ornate, the reverse was plain to allow for the inscription of the recipient's service number, rank, name and unit.

In 1919 a bar (ie another medal of the same type) was sanctioned with the inscription "5th Aug-22nd November 1914".  The 1914 bar was only awarded to those who had actually been under fire during the specified period.  As the same ribbon was used as the later 1914/15 Star, to differentiate the 1914 and 1914/15 Star holders of the 1914 Star were permitted to wear the ribbon with a small silver rosette.  this was often noted on Medal cards as the 'Clasp and Roses' or 'C&R'.  This was not sent out unless applied for.

1914 Star records are held by the National Archives and two main collections exist:

1914 Star: officers: medal rolls 1914 Star C 502 at
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4437729
and
1914 Star: other ranks other ranks: medal rolls at
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4437610

These have not been digitised but can be seen at the National Archives and copies can be ordered.  Individuals can be searched for my name. 

Findmypast has a list entitled 'Royal Navy, 1914 Star Medal Roll 1914-1920' at
<a href="http://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=2114&awinaffid=212927&clickref=&p=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.findmypast.co.uk%2Fsearch-world-Records%2Froyal-navy-1914-star-medal-roll-1914-1920" onmouseover="self.status='http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/royal-navy-1914-star-medal-roll-1914-1920'; return true;" onmouseout="self.status=''; return true;" target="_top">Findmypast</a>
which includes the Royal Marines.

Medal cards also list those men who were awarded the 1914 Star as in this example in top right quarter of this medal card where it is written '14 Star'.

A list of medals from 1800 onwards that are available through Ancestry, Findmypast and The Genealogist is at http://www.familyhistoryrecordsonline.com/military.html#medals

YMCA in WWI - Family Tree article

Family Tree magazine Christmas edition, which is in addition to the December edition, has a feature on the YMCA during the Great War by Amanda Randall. Although not the lead article, which is about telling your family story, it is very topical given the heightened interest in the First World War.

The YMCA stands for 'Young Men's Christian Association' and was founded in 1841 by George Williams who was a Somerset draper. By his death in 1905 the YMCA had expanded across the globe, operating in 45 countries and with more than 700,000 members. However, it was only in 1912 that the first purpose-built hostels were opened in London and Cardiff.

On the outbreak of the First World War the YMCA reacted with impressive speed. Within 10 days of the start of the war the organisation had set up centres in 250 locations, with tea and sandwiches at travel points and hut in army camps. The YMCA were also active along the front lines and there were hundreds of YMCA huts, dugouts and buildings, as well as hospitals and schools along the key stretches of the Flanders front lines. There was also music, films and morale raising shows to lighten the otherwise grim existence of the troops.

One of the best, and most evocative sources for YMCA's work in the First World War is the YMCA giftbook 'Told in the Huts' which was produced in 1916 and is available at Archive.org 
https://archive.org/details/toldinhutsymcagi00londiala.

It is mainly a collection of stories and accounts but vividly captures the soldier's life on the front line. Articles and stories include 

• 'What it is Like at the Front Just now' by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, 
• 'YMCA men who have won the VC',
• 'The Shell-hole' 
• and, my favourite title, 'The Philosophy of Swearing'. 

Interestingly it states on the title page that the volume contains the 'last work of the famous artist' Cyrus Cuneo.

The single greatest online collection of references for the YMCA's work during the First World War in Britain is that of the newspapers, and the British Newspaper Archive (which is also on Findmypast) contains over 28,000 references for between 1914-1918. There is a potential wealth of information in these often brief mentions, such as this one regarding a YMCA hut fire on Salisbury Plain, as reported in the Newcastle Journal on the 10 January 1916.

Unfortunately, given the interest in the First World War and the role of the YMCA, there are not a lot of other records online, though there are a number of references to published works and archive. The main archive is at Birmingham University and the collection spans the dates 1838-2008 and covers 55 metres of shelving. A PDF helpfully lists the collection

http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/GetDocument.ashx?db=Catalog&fname=YMCA.pdf

There is a specific collection relating to the 'long' First World War (1906-1920). These are known as the First World War Green Books, after the colour of the binders they were in. They were compiled retrospectively to illustrate the YMCA's activities and work during the First World War.

The link to them is http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XYMCA%2FK. Whilst they are viewable at the University to date none are online. The University's website does have a few YMCA First World War photographs at http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/imagegallery.aspx which have the title 'Everybody's World: The YMCA Across the World 1914-1918.

Amanda Randall's Family Tree article mentions some other online information which give accounts of work at the YMCA. Most of the online records relate to the American experience (see below) but there is a typewritten page of Ernest William Hornung's diary. Ernest volunteered for the YMCA after his own son was killed in the Trenches. The page is at (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadburyresearchlibrary/14481904818/in/set-72157645723117675/).

The diary entry gives his initial impression of his first days with the YMCA in France. One point of note is his description of his 'first evening's work' for the YMCA which he describes as 'enchanting'. Hardly a word used often about the First World War.

There are a few photograph collections online: Flickr has a range of WWI YMCA images as part of the Cadbury collection at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadburyresearchlibrary/14666227874/in/set-72157645723117675/ and the Imperial War Museum also has a small online collection of YMCA photos at http://www.iwm.org.uk/search/global?query=YMCA&x=-946&y=-28

There was also the YWCA (the Young Women's Christian Association) which was founded in 1855 in London by two Englishwomen to provide a safe place for young women en route to the Crimean War. It held its first international conference in London in 1898. Unfortunately there seems to be almost nothing online about their British WWI work.

Bringing the story up to date, there is a fun and educational project in Bradford called 'Tea and Remembrance' which has rebuilt a YMCA Tea Hut http://teahut-ymca.org.uk/. 

As their website states

'The YMCA was the largest non-military organisation involved in the War effort, providing shelter and home comforts from the home front to the front line.  The aim of the Tea Hut, part of our Tea and Remembrance project, is to raise awareness and commemorate this great history.' 

I think this is an excellent merging of historical remembrance and (gentle) modern social action.

The American Angle

There is a lot more American material online about the YMCA's work in WWI

An American lass, Ada Tuttle, gives an account of working at the YMCA from November 1918 to the summer of 1919 at http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t0ks7686m;view=1up;seq=9. 

She was in a concert party and has a humourous eye for detail, but despite some privations, cultural differences and missing the US, she seems to have an enjoyable time.

There is also an Independent article about the American YMCA in Covent Garden at
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/history-of-the-first-world-war-in-100-moments/a-history-of-the-first-world-war-in-100-moments-a-home-from-home-in-london-for-american-doughboys--the-aldwych-eagle-hut-9541652.html. 

The webpage 'Doughboy Centre' gives a history of the YMCA as it relates to the American Expeditionary Forces (http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ymca.htm). There are a series of the 'Dots and Dashes' YMCA magazine from a New Jersey branch during the First World War on Archive.org, one for 1918 is at https://archive.org/details/19180710Vol2No3DotsAndDashes. There is also a page of American WWI posters at https://www.pinterest.com/michelleule/ymca-wwi/.

The American branch of the YWMA has a page about it's history relating to World War I, World War II and Defence Services at http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/sophiasmith/mnsss292rg6s7_scope.html#subseriesa

Note

The Family Tree article, titled 'A little bit of home' (pages 26-29) is an excellent short introduction to the subject and has the following sections

The YMCA story
1914: war
Home from Home
Music, movies and morale
Official recognition

Of course - if you know of any more online records then do let me know at familyhistoryrecordsonline@gmail.com