- Author
- Lancaster, John
- Subjects
- History - general
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 1997 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
MARKS OF EXTRAORDINARY MERIT
(Acknowledging BRITISH BATTLES and MEDALS. Major L. L. Gordon. Spink & Sons. London)
Thumbing through the historical background of the awards of decorations and medals to officers and men of the British Navy during the last two centuries provides some extraordinary disclosures.
In 1815 Emperor Napoleon when surrendering to Captain Maitland in H.M.S. BELLEROPHON in Basque Roads, on the first leg of his journey into exile on the island of St. Helena, is reputed to have registered surprise that there was not a medal to be seen on the chests of the assembled ships company.
In retrospect this is remarkable as the first General Service Medal to be authorised for the Royal Navy had been introduced in 1793 during the reign of George III, however the medal was not actually issued until 56 years later in 1849 during the reign of Queen Victoria. There were to be no less than 231 bars or clasps to this medal commemorating fleet, single ship and boat actions.
Something in the order of 21,000 medals were awarded and no medal was issued without a bar. The ribbon of the medal was white with dark blue edges and the medal featured Queen Victoria on the obverse and Britannia on the reverse.
For seven of the 231 bars there were no claimants, which is hardly surprising when we find a bar was issued to commemorate the action between H.M.S. MOSQUITO and a French privateer on 9th June 1795, when MOSQUITO was lost with all hands!
Four years later a bar was issued for an action near Brest between a small brig, H.M.S. TELEGRAPH and another French privateer. HIRONDELLE but there were no claimants for the award, probably because those eligible had all passed away by the time the medal and bar became available for issue, fifty years late!
The first woman recorded as having been issued the General Service Medal (1793 – 1840) was Jane Townsend serving on board DEFIANCE, 74 guns, a ship of the line engaged in the battle of Trafalgar. It is not explained what she was doing in a King’s ship, but eleven years before a Mrs McKenzie, on board the first rate TREMENDOUS during a battle in the Atlantic against the French Fleet (‘The Glorious First of June’), gave birth to a son. The babe was later baptised Daniel Tremendous McKenzie! His application for the Naval General Service Medal, clasp ‘1st of June’, was not made until 1848. Daniel must have been, and no doubt still is, the only person in any white ensign navy to have been awarded a medal for a battle fought on the day he was born.
The first clergyman in the history of the Royal Navy ever to receive a medal was Thomas Morgan who served in H.M.S. ALFRED, also in `The Glorious First of June’ action.
The maximum number of bars issued with this Long Service Medal was seven of which there were three recipients, one of these was Lieutenant John Hindmarsh later to become the first Governor of the Province of South Australia. Amongst his clasps was `The Nile” where he lost an eye and was commended by Lord Nelson, another was ‘Trafalgar” when serving in VICTORY as a midshipman. His other clasps included; `Cadiz’, `Flushing’, `Gibraltar’, `Isle de France’ and `Basque Roads’.
Another name prominent in Australian history was Captain William Bligh who in 1797, eight years after the mutiny, qualified for the award of the clasp ‘Camperdown’, an action against the Dutch fleet. Another recipient of this award was Able Seaman Stephen Lawrie who served in H.M.S. PHOEBE continuously for nearly seventeen years and qualified for the award of six clasps, one of which was `Trafalgar’. He received his first clasp as a Boy Seaman and his last as the Captain of the Foretop which gave him Petty Officer status, but not rank.
Looking through the medal lists it is interesting to find, in several instances, only a single NGS medal awarded for a particular action. One such action was; “Spider 25 August 1795′, The lugger SPIDER whilst cruising in the North Sea, encountered two small French brigs, engaged and captured one of them, the VICTORIEUSE”. The sole award was made to John Lean. It is unlikely his was a single handed lugger but it is probable that by the time the medal and clasp was available for issue the remainder of SPIDER’s crew were no longer alive to claim it.