The British Sterling Silver War Medal of the First World War

Time to do another Imperial British medal post! I am going to do this one on an in-depth look at the British War Medal that was awarded during the Great War.

These medals were awarded to all British troops and forces of her empire for 28 days of mobilized service during the Great War. This medal was also given for actions after the Great War, either for minesweeping or service in Russia during the Russian Revolution (one day I hope to get a medal belonging to a British soldier who served in the Russian campaigns). The obverse depicts the king, and the ribbon colors have never been thought to mean anything of significance, but what about the reverse?

The reverse depicts Saint George on horseback trampling the Prussian coat of arms, showcasing the victory against Imperial Germany. The skull and crossbones has a double representation of loss of life and was also a military symbol of Germany that I may make a post about later. The horse is thought to represent humanities new control of machinery and the wielding of it to bring victory.

The final part of the medal is the rim, which is always stamped with the name of the recipient. Officers, other than those who served in artillery battalions, would only have their name stamped on the rim and all of the other troops would have their service number, occupation, branch, and name stamped on the rim. This makes British medals of the First World War very easy to research!

The image above shows the order of wear of Great War medals. Many of these medals were worn and actively polished by their owners, as such, it is getting rather difficult to find them in better conditions and with a ribbon. Most medals were struck in Sterling silver, with the exception of about 100,000 bronze medals (which are rather scarce) that were awarded to labor battalions like the Macedonian Mule Corps (that might be an interesting post as well!).

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