1.
George V
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George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, on the death of his grandmother in 1901, Georges father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910 and he was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, in 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son. George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House and he was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and he was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871, neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. For three years from 1879, the brothers served on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia, as well as South America, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman, after Lausanne, the brothers were separated, Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire, during his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters then HMS Thrush on the North America station, before his last active service in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–92. From then on, his rank was largely honorary
2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
3.
Campaign clasp
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A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. When used in conjunction with decorations for service, such as gallantry medals. In the example, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO, a British convention is to indicate bars by the use of asterisks, thus, DSO** would denote a DSO and two bars. Bars are also used on long service medals to indicate the length of service rendered. The two terms are used because terms bar and clasp both refer to two parts of the medal, the indicator discussed in article, and the part of the medal connected to the ribbon. One exception was the Army Gold Medal issued to higher ranking participants in the Peninsular War, a medal was given for service, with a clasp for each battle fought. After four clasps were earned the medal was turned in for a cross with the names on the arms. The maximum was achieved by the Duke of Wellington, with a cross, over the next 40 years, it became customary for governments to present a medal to all soldiers and officers involved in a campaign. These medals were engraved with the names of the major battles the recipient had fought in during the campaign. The Sutlej Medal was the earliest medal to use such bars and it was awarded to British Army and Honourable East India Company soldiers who fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War between 1845 and 1846. The first battle the recipient participated in would be engraved on the medal itself, if the recipient had participated in multiple engagements, silver bars bearing the name of each additional battle were attached to the medals ribbon. The creation of bars led to the development of General Service medals, bars would be awarded to denote the particular campaign or war the recipient fought in. The 1854 India General Service Medal was awarded to soldiers over a 41-year period, twenty-three clasps were created for this award, becoming one of the more extreme uses of this system. The Crimea Medal was issued with ornate battle bars, since then the general trend has been to have simple horizontal devices. Campaign bars or battle bars are used to denote the campaign, battle. This is the most common use of bars on military decorations. In the United Kingdom, campaign bars are known as clasps. Examples of ones that were issued are the enemy fire clasp on the 1914 Star
4.
India General Service Medal (1909)
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The Indian General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved on 1 January 1909, for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies. In 1925 it was awarded to officers and men of the Royal Air Force. The 1909 IGSM was awarded for minor military campaigns in India. Each campaign was represented by a clasp on the ribbon,12 were sanctioned, north-West Frontier Mackay, J and Mussel, J - Medals Yearbook -2006, Token Publishing. Joslin, Litherland, and Simpkin, British Battles and Medals, Spink
5.
British War Medal
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The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced, about 6.5 million were struck in silver and 110,000 were struck in bronze, the latter for award to Chinese, Maltese and Indian Labour Corps. Consideration was given to the award of clasps to commemorate certain battles and theatres of operations, while the Naval clasps were authorised in August 1920, none were awarded and the idea was abandoned in 1923. For the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Dominion and Colonial naval forces, the criteria were 28 days mobilised service, the medal was presented to the next-of-kin of all casualties, including those who were killed before the completion of this 28 days period. The medal was awarded in the event of death on active service before the completion of the prescribed period. The order of precedence of the First World War campaign stars and medals is as follows, of the official British campaign medals which were applicable to South Africans, the British War Medal takes precedence as shown. The medal is a silver or bronze disk,36 millimetres in diameter, the medal was designed by W. McMillan and struck by the Royal Mint. The recipients name, rank, service number and unit are impressed on the edge of the medal. On medals awarded to Army officers, with the exception of the Royal Artillery, obverse The obverse shows Sir Bertram Mackennals bareheaded effigy of King George V facing left, with the legend GEORGIVS V BRITT, OMN, REX ET IND, IMP. Reverse The reverse shows Saint George naked on horseback and armed with a short sword, the horse tramples on the Prussian eagle shield and the emblems of death, a skull and cross-bones. In the background are ocean waves and just off-centre near the upper rim is the risen sun of Victory. The years 1914 and 1918 appear on the perimeter in the left, the colours are not thought to have any particular symbolic significance. Some 6,610,000 medals were awarded,6,500,000 struck in silver and 110,000 struck in bronze. The bronze medals were awarded to Chinese, Maltese and Indians who served in the labour battalions of such organisations as the Chinese Labour Corps. Altogether 427,993 medals were awarded to Canadians who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, pip represented either of the two Stars, Squeak represented the British War Medal and Wilfred represented the Victory Medal. Similarly, when only the British War Medal and Victory Medal are worn together, they are referred to as the Mutt and Jeff pair
6.
Victory Medal (United Kingdom)
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The Victory Medal is a United Kingdom and British Empire First World War campaign medal. A particular form of this historic Greek monument was chosen by each nation, except the nations in the Far East who issued the medal but with a different design. The dates of the war were in every case 1914 to 1918, except that of the British Empire, which gave the dates as illustrated. The medal was issued to all those who received the 1914 Star or the 1914–15 Star and these three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. Women qualified for this and the two medals, for service in nursing homes and other auxiliary forces. It was also awarded to members of the British Naval mission to Russia 1919 -1920, the reverse has the words ‘THE GREAT / WAR FOR / CIVILISATION / 1914-1919 in four lines, all surrounded by a laurel wreath. The 39mm wide ribbon has a iridescent colour scheme, with the violet moving through to a red stripe where both schemes meet. Those personnel Mentioned in Despatches between 4 August 1914 and 10 August 1920 wear an oak leaf on the medals ribbon, as well as the United Kingdom, a significant number of allied and associated countries involved in the conflict against the Austro-German alliance issued a Victory Medal. The proposition of such common award was first made by French marshal Ferdinand Foch who was commander of the allied force during the war. The 2005 book The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk takes its title from the legend of the medal. Searchable database of cards at The National Archives
7.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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United Kingdom
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