London Medal Company - New stock

Some attractive medals have just been added by the London Medal Company. There is a range of items and with a range of prices to match. Great War pairs from £40. Worth checking out.

Pictured above, the group of 3: Campaign Service Medal 1962, 2 Clasps: Northern Ireland, Air Operations Iraq; (24428535 PTE M R ATKINS GORDONS); Jubilee Medal 2002; Accumulated Campaign Service Medal, 1st type; (24428535 SGT M R ATKINS R ANGLIAN), mounted court style as worn.

203507 Pte L A Harris, Essex Regiment

I picked up the Victory Medal to this man about eighteen months ago; part of a job lot from the second-hand market in Chelmsford.  I wrote about Stephen Smeeton - another component of the job lot - yesterday.  This is Leslie Harris's story.

The medal index card gives this man's name as Leslie, and little else.  He was entitled to the British War and Victory Medals and so did not arrive overseas until 1916 at the earliest.  His number - 203507 - belongs to the series allocated to the 4th Battalion, Essex Regiment, and I know from my own research into army numbers that this number was not issued until after May 1917. 

There are surprisingly few candidates for Leslie A Harris recorded in the GRO's birth records. The most compelling candidate appears to be Leslie Arnold Harris who was born in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire and who appears on the 1911 census as a 12-year-old living with his family at 64 Salisbury Avenue, Rochford, Essex.  This would have made him an 18-year-old conscript in 1917.

The owner of my Victory medal certainly survived the war and, I believe, died in 1961.  There is a death for a 61-year-old Leslie A Harris recorded in the Brentwood District in the June quarter of that year.

Cap badge courtesy of North-East Medals.

B-2966 Pte S S G Smeeton, Rifle Brigade

I picked up this man's Victory Medal some while back and thought it might be an idea to post what I know about him.  His medal index card tells us the following:

1. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
2. He was awarded silver war badge number 151770 which was mislaid, was found by the police,returned to him and subsequently acknowledged on the 20th June 1917
3. He arrived overseas in France on the 21st July 1915
4. He was a corporal when he stepped off the boat in France but was subsequently reduced in rank
5. He must have been discharged from the army prior to 20th June 1917 (see 2. above)
6. His British War Medal was incorrectly impressed and was returned on the 18th February 1921.  It was re-issued on the 21st December that year.

No service record survives for this man but the B prefix indicates that this man was either a reservist whose number had been re-allocated (which, incidentally, according to Queen's and King's Regulations, it shouldn't have been) or a time-expired regular who was re-enlisting.  I could find no surviving service record in WO 97 but his silver war badge roll entry confirms that he enlisted on the 1st September 1914 and was discharged on the 20th March 1917 as a result of wounds (rather than sickness).

A search through birth records yields one candidate: Stephen Samuel G Smeeton whose birth was registered in the West Ham district in the September quarter of 1885.  I have not located him on either the 1891 or 1901 census returns but he appears on the 1911 census as a 25 year-old stevedore living with his parents and five siblings at 68 Canton Street, Poplar.  A widowed sister-in-law, Bertha Kershaw, is also recorded and it is noted that his mother had given birth to eleven children, nine of whom were still living in 1911.  Stephen is recorded on the census as Stephen S J Smeeton and he is the only child who is recorded as having been born in West Ham.  The next youngest sibling is Albert James Smeeton aged 20, and therefore born around 1890, whose place of birth is noted as Poplar.  Presumably then, the family moved from West Ham to Poplar at some point between 1885 and 1890. Stephen is the only member of the family noted at that address on the 1915 electoral roll.

As regards Stephen's military service, let's assume he joined the army at the age of 18.  This would have made his year of enlistment as 1903 and a time when general short service enlistment terms were three years with the colours and nine on the reserve.  So perhaps he served until 1906 and was on the reserve when war was declared.  This doesn't seem right to me - his date of entry into France seems just too late for a much-needed reservist - but I'll have to content myself with this mystery in the absence of documentary evidence to the contrary.

The year after he was discharged from the army, Stephen Smeeton married Gwendoline E E Hiorns in Hackney.  Their marriage was recorded in the September quarter of that year. He and Gwendoline appear on the 1919 and 1920 electoral rolls living at 167 Mandeville Street, Hackney but by 1922 Stephen is living at 50 Spring Lane, Stamford Hill (Gwendoline does not appear) and he's still there, alone, in 1923 and 1924.  As well as confirming Stephen's address, the electoral rolls also give us his full name: Stephen Samuel George Smeeton.

I could find no evidence of issue from Stephen's marriage to Gwendoline Hiorns and after 1924 the trail goes cold until 1937 when Stephen Smeeton's death at the age of 51 is recorded in the registration district for Ongar, in Essex.

The Great War Medal Collectors Companion

I've just ordered The Great War Medal Collectors Companion by Howard Williamson having seen it advertised in the most recent Dixon's Gazette (issue No. 67) and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Apart from being a lavishly published volume, the detail it contains seems impressive. This from the book's blurb:

Medal Index Cards

•Over 1,500 MIC abbreviations and codes deciphered.
•Definitive notes on the MICs and how to read them.
•The significance of different coloured inks revealed.

Gallantry Medals

•DSO, MC, DCM and MM Gazettes, giving dates & battles covered by each gazette.
•Especially useful for MM research, linking the London Gazette date back to the bravery date.
•DCM, MC and DSO Gazette citations that omit dates & places (March 1916 - January 1919).
•List of MC and DCM recipients for 1st July 1916. Also all DCM and dated bars noted.
•A full list of escapers awarded the MM; Army Order 193 of 1919 explained and 1914 MMs noted.
•How to spot fakes e.g. MC, DSO, DFC, AFC etc as well as fake bars.
•History of the DCM League and MM Association plus Ex-Servicemen’s Association details.
•Definitive notes about the naming & renaming of medals - many examples illustrated.
•How to read & research the MM Cards, including the breakthrough use of schedule numbers.
•Detailed notes on the Somme Gazettes & the units engaged. List of VCs and where they were won.
•Documents found with gallantry groups, including divisional cards, award notifications etc.
•Chronological list of actions & battles fought in all theatres, plus indexed maps.

Campaign Medals

•Full history of each medal, including Army Orders, Army Council Instructions & award criteria.
•How & when medals were named & distributed. Packaging & accompanying documents.
•How to spot fake medals and correctly identify original ‘5th Aug-22nd Nov 1914’ bars.
•How to spot renaming. Font alphabets for 1914 & 1914/15 Trios, DCMs and MMs.

Dixons - and elsewhere - advertise the book at £60 with £10 for postage and packing. However, if you order through the National Archives' online bookshop, you can pick it up for £50 including postage and packing; quite a saving.

One minor quibble though, before I've even seen the book; all apostrophe purists know that the title should be The Great War Medal Collectors' Companion, ie the Companion belonging to Great War Medal Collectors (assuming that the book is intended for more than one medal collector that is, otherwise it would be Collector's Companion). Either way, it needs an apostrophe.

Howard's eagerly awaited book on the Military Medal, a companion to this volume, is due out in 2014. Word to the wise is, buy MMs now because once the book is published, the price of these will go up.

Citations of the DCM 1914-1920

Citations of The Distinguished Conduct Medal in the Great War 1914-1920

The Naval & Military Press has this to say about this four volume set:

"This much-needed series lists the full citations of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (and second and third award bars) in the Great War. The DCM may not have the cachet of the VC, but the deeds told in the citations for the award are just as heroic and inspiring.

"Section 1 of the series lists DCMs won by members of the Royal Flying Corps and (from April 1918) of the Royal Air Force; the Foot Guards; and the Yeomanry and Cavalry. Section 2 covers the Line Regiments. Section 3 the Territorial Army Regiments including the RGLI/RNVR/RMLI and RMA; the Royal Engineers and the Royal Artillery. Section 4 covers the Corps and the overseas forces of the Crown in alphabetical order: Australia; the British West Indies Regiment; Canada; India; Newfoundland; New Zealand; Rhodesia; South and East Africa.

"The citations for DCMs are hard to find - unit histories often have no space for more than a brief mention; or just the bare fact of the award tucked away in an appendix. Others are lost in the labyrinth of small print in the official ‘London Gazette’. But, thanks to the research of Rob Walker, who compiled the citations, and the tireless work of Chris Buckland who oversaw the mammoth task of typing of all 25,000+ citations, the brave deeds which won the medals are here for all to see."