Military General Service Medal
This is a Military General Service Medal, awarded by the British Army to recognise soldiers’ service between the years 1793 – 1814, during the long wars against France that ended with the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. However, the medal was not actually distributed until 1847 – long after the first campaign medal had been given to those who had fought at Waterloo. This long delay outraged the many veterans who felt they had helped defeat Napoleon, even if they had not fought in the Waterloo campaign.
The Battle of Waterloo marked a turning point in the relationship between the British Army and society. For the first time in history, every soldier who fought was awarded a campaign medal, regardless of rank or role. However, this left the service of many thousands of British Army soldiers unrecognised. These were men who had fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, or in the War of 1812 against the United States of America, but whose regiments had not arrived in Belgium in time to fight at Waterloo.
The Duke of Richmond, himself a veteran of Waterloo, led the campaign to have a general medal awarded. However, it was not until 1847, 32 years after Waterloo, that the Military General Service Medal was issued. It bears the head of Queen Victoria, who had by then succeeded to the throne.
The medal is decorated with clasps, listing the individual battles in which each recipient fought. This example is decorated with an extraordinary nine clasps, showing that the soldier who was awarded it fought his way through the campaign in Portugal and Spain, all the way to the Pyrenees – the last major British battle against Napoleon before Waterloo.
Military General Service Medals were not awarded posthumously, only to living veterans who actively applied for them. Due to illiteracy, poor publicity, or death, relatively few soldiers received a medal – just 25,650 in total, compared to over 38,000 medal for the Waterloo campaign alone. In the long interval between the Waterloo and Military General Service Medals being awarded, some disgruntled veterans created homemade clasps which they attached to the Waterloo Medals, to advertise the other battles in which they had fought.
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Curatorial info
- Originating Museum: Cornwall's Regimental Museum
- Production Date: 1847
- Material: Silver
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Use this image
You can download and use the high resolution image for use in a non-profit environment such as a school or college, but please take note of the license type and rights holder information below
- Rights Holder: Copyright Cornwall's Regimental Museum. Photography Relic Imaging Ltd.
- License Type: Creative Commons
Find it here
This object is in the collection of Cornwall’s Regimental Museum