PREFACE ALTHOUGH many of our Naval and Military Medals and Decorations, other than those of Orders of Knighthood, have been described and exemplified in various books, pamphlets, periodicals and catalogues, no attempt has, we believe, been made to compile a complete record of all those which can be traced as having been awarded by the Crown or by Government. It is chiefly with the view of supplying this deficiency that the present work has been undertaken. The scheme of the work has been to give an account of all the medals of which official evidence has been obtained, accompanied, whenever possible, by illustrations, and to print in extenso the General Orders, Royal Warrants, and other papers relating to their issue, many of which have been extracted from manuscript records, and are now printed for the first time. The book will thus be useful not only to those interested in the general subject, but also for official reference. Several instances of decorations which are not positively known to have been rewards for warlike service, will also be found in the book. Indeed, in respect to many of the earlier medals, it is impossible to determine whether they were intended as military rewards, or merely as tokens of regard. The representations given will, however, serve to illustrate the style of medallic art in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. A few examples of decorations which the author has discovered in the course of his researches among the records of the Hon. East India Company have also been included, although, strictly speaking, they cannot be claimed as being naval or military in character. It has not been a part of the author's project to give an his torical narrative of the operations which occasioned the grant of the various decorations. Accounts of these operations have, in most instances, been published already. Even were such an enormous work as a detailed history of all the events for which medals have been awarded ever to be written, it would be an utterly inadequate record of the wars of England, inasmuch as it would be almost entirely silent in respect to the achievements of our arms ashore and afloat in the eighteenth century. Our armies which 'swore terribly in Flanders' won no medals there. The conquerors of Plassey and Quebec; the unsurpassable six' Minden regiments;1 Rodney, Hawke, Boscawen and their men ;—all these, and many more, never had the gratification of receiving any medallic reward. In the arrangement of the medals chronological order has as a rule been maintained, this being deemed preferable to a division into classes as Naval, Military or Indian. The decorations for gallantry, long service, and eminence in other directions, are, however, grouped together. The technical descriptions of the medals have, wherever possible, been taken from the Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and Ireland to the death of George II.; and the author desires to acknowledge most fully the assistance he has thus derived from that valuable work. Full-size facsimile illustrations of most of the decorations are given. A photographic process has been adopted in the earlier cases, and there was no occasion in regard to many of them, examples of which in various metals are extant, to indicate in colours any particular metals. Moreover, as in the early days possessors of medals probably did very much as they pleased in respect to mountings and ribbons, there was no necessity to indicate what, after all, might only have been done in a single instance. In the later cases, however, where there was no doubt about metals, mountings or ribbons, chromo-lithography has been 1 See Carlyle's Frederick the Great. The regiments were the 12th, 20th, 23rd, 25th, 37th, and 51st Foot. employed. Indeed, the ribbon is now so essential a part of the decoration, that not to show its colours accurately would be a serious deficiency. The illustrations have been executed by Messrs. Maclure and Co., of 97 Queen Victoria Street, London, and it is believed that the coloured examples are the most successful of the kind that have yet been produced. The difficulty to be dealt with was how to produce the effect of relief, and at the same time to obtain a metallic appearance. The method adopted has been to show the flat surface of the medals burnished, and the relief work frosted, the appearance thus produced resembling as nearly as practicable that of medals when newly struck. The preparation of the book has entailed an extended search, often of a very tedious nature, among old records, in consequence of so-called 'indexes' being little better than caricatures. Indeed, in the old days, the least intelligent clerks would appear to have been selected for the important work of index-making. Certainly the art of indexing was then only imperfectly understood, and the idea was never grasped that the object of an index is to show at a glance whether the book contains information of the description sought. Much correspondence has been necessary. Inquiries have in most cases received a courteous response, and the author would take this opportunity of sincerely thanking all those who have thus rendered him information and assistance. He desires, however, particularly to record his obligations to the late Mr. R. S. Poole, formerly head of the Medal Department of the British Museum; to Mr. H. A. Grueber, of the same Department; and to Professor J. K. Laughton. It was originally intended to include in this book the class of medals known as 'Regimental,' and likewise the medals and decorations given by foreign Powers to British officers and men; but it was found that these two classes would of themselves afford sufficient material for a separate volume, and the idea was therefore abandoned. An Appendix is added in which are printed a number of official and other documents which it was not deemed necessary to insert in the body of the work. Many of these are printed for the first time. The author is conscious that in some places the text may appear to be overburdened with extracts from official correspondence and regulations, but it would have been difficult to have avoided this. To have put all official documents in the Appendix would have involved the insertion of their substance in the text, when very often the documents themselves tell their own story with sufficient brevity. A copious index is given, which will enable the information contained in the book to be readily referred to. Many medals are mentioned the designs of which are not now known; but should any of such medals be extant, the author will feel greatly obliged to their owners if they will kindly communicate with him in regard to them.1 Although it is probable that many of the medals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have been melted down, it is doubtless the case that in private hands, as family treasures or heirlooms, there may be several still surviving. If there could be held a Loan Exhibition of the contents of boxes which for very long periods have been lying unopened in bankers' strong-rooms, a large number of medals would probably be discovered. What a wealth of other objects of value and interest, originally locked up for safety, but now forgotten and therefore practically ownerless, would then be brought to light, can only be left to the imagination to conjecture. Such an Exhibition would doubtless lead to many objects passing into the hands of those to whom they rightly now belong. At any rate, they would be rescued from the utterly useless, if secure, oblivion to which they are at present consigned. Of the numerous official documents given in this work, those which have not already been published are now printed with the consent of the Lord President of the Council, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the Secretaries of State for War and India. J. H. M. 1 Such communications may be sent to the Editor, care of the Publishers. P.S.-Care has been taken to include the grant of medals issued since the author's decease, and many thanks are due to Mr. William Foster of the India Office and to Mr. Alan Duffus of the War Office for assistance given while the work was passing through the press. At p. 603 will be found some Addenda and Corrigenda, which came to light too late for incorporation in the text. The indulgence of the reader is desired for any blemishes which may appear in the work, which the practised eye of the author would have detected had he been able to supervise its issue from the press. THE EDITOR. LIST OF PRINTED BOOKS AND MS. RECORDS CONSULTED DURING THE COMPILATION OF THIS WORK Admiralty, Minutes of the Board of, now kept at the Public Record Office. Apsley House, Heirloom Catalogue. Barrett, Charles Raymond Booth. The Trinity House of Deptford Strond. London, 1893. 4to. Boulton, Major Charles A. 1886. 8vo. Reminiscences of the North-West Rebellions. Toronto, Boutell, Charles. Monumental Brasses. London, 1849. 8vo. Bulstrode, Sir R. Memoirs of the Bengal Artillery. London, 1852. 8vo. Carroll, J. Code of Bengal Military Regulations. Calcutta, 1817. Carter, Thomas. Medals of the British Army, and How they were Won. London, 1861. 3 vols. 8vo. Catalogue, East India Company. Exhibition. 1895. Loan Collection of Relics. Empire of India Catalogue, Exhibition of Miniatures. Burlington Fine Arts Club. 1889. Catalogue, Royal Military Exhibition. Catalogue, Sotheby's. June, 1888. 1890. Chamberlayne, Edward. Present State of England. London, 1687. Clarendon, Earl of. History of the Great Rebellion. Oxford (Edition 1839). Cochrane, G. E. Staff Corps Rules. London. Dixon, W. Hepworth. Life of Blake. London, 1852. 8vo. |