Military General Service Medal
Encyclopedia
The Military General Service Medal (MGSM) was a campaign medal
approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the British Army
.
The MGSM was approved on 1 June 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814; a period encompassing the French Revolutionary Wars
, the Napoleonic Wars
, and the Anglo-American War of 1812
. Each battle or action covered by the medal was represented by a clasp on the ribbon; twenty-nine were sanctioned and the maximum awarded to one man was fifteen. The medal was never issued without a clasp.
The 5th Duke of Richmond
, who had fought at Waterloo
, was chiefly responsible for the belated institution of the Military General Service Medal for all survivors of the campaigns between 1793 and 1814. (There had only hitherto been a Waterloo Medal
). He campaigned in Parliament and also enlisted the interest of Queen Victoria, who persuaded a curiously reluctant Duke of Wellington that junior and non-commissioned officers and private soldiers deserved this recognition. Senior officers had received the Army Gold Medal
thirty years before.
A point to note is that the medal was only awarded to surviving claimants; one had both to have survived until 1847 and then to actively apply for it. A combination of factors, from general illiteracy to limited publicity for the new medal meant that many did not. There are substantially fewer medals issued compared with the number of men who served during this period.
The medal was awarded only to surviving claimants; next of kin could not apply for a medal on behalf of a deceased relative. However, the medal was awarded to next of kin of those claimants who had died between the date of their application and the date of presentation. There were some 25,650 applications in total.
This medal and its naval counterpart, the Naval General Service Medal
, were amongst the first real British campaign medals, the first to be issued to all ranks just for "being there". An earlier Army Gold Medal
had been awarded to field officers for their successful commands; they were not eligible to claim identical claps on the MGSM. To distinguish between the two medals, the MGSM was referred to as the "silver medal".
Campaign medal
A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of the military who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater...
approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
.
The MGSM was approved on 1 June 1847 as a retrospective award for various military actions from 1793–1814; a period encompassing the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and the Anglo-American War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. Each battle or action covered by the medal was represented by a clasp on the ribbon; twenty-nine were sanctioned and the maximum awarded to one man was fifteen. The medal was never issued without a clasp.
The 5th Duke of Richmond
Duke of Richmond
The title Duke of Richmond is named after Richmond and its surrounding district of Richmondshire, and has been created several times in the Peerage of England for members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families...
, who had fought at Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, was chiefly responsible for the belated institution of the Military General Service Medal for all survivors of the campaigns between 1793 and 1814. (There had only hitherto been a Waterloo Medal
Waterloo Medal
The Waterloo Medal was awarded to any soldier of the British Army who took part in one or more of the following battles: Battle of Ligny , Battle of Quatre Bras , and the Battle of Waterloo ....
). He campaigned in Parliament and also enlisted the interest of Queen Victoria, who persuaded a curiously reluctant Duke of Wellington that junior and non-commissioned officers and private soldiers deserved this recognition. Senior officers had received the Army Gold Medal
Army Gold Medal
The Army Gold Medal , also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field and general officers' successful commands in recent campaigns, predominately the Peninsular War...
thirty years before.
A point to note is that the medal was only awarded to surviving claimants; one had both to have survived until 1847 and then to actively apply for it. A combination of factors, from general illiteracy to limited publicity for the new medal meant that many did not. There are substantially fewer medals issued compared with the number of men who served during this period.
The medal was awarded only to surviving claimants; next of kin could not apply for a medal on behalf of a deceased relative. However, the medal was awarded to next of kin of those claimants who had died between the date of their application and the date of presentation. There were some 25,650 applications in total.
This medal and its naval counterpart, the Naval General Service Medal
Naval General Service Medal
The Naval General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the Royal Navy. William Wyon was the designer...
, were amongst the first real British campaign medals, the first to be issued to all ranks just for "being there". An earlier Army Gold Medal
Army Gold Medal
The Army Gold Medal , also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field and general officers' successful commands in recent campaigns, predominately the Peninsular War...
had been awarded to field officers for their successful commands; they were not eligible to claim identical claps on the MGSM. To distinguish between the two medals, the MGSM was referred to as the "silver medal".
Clasps
- Egypt
- MaidaBattle of MaidaThe Battle of Maida on 4 July 1806 saw a British expeditionary force fight a First French Empire division outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,200 British troops to victory over about 6,000 French soldiers under Jean Reynier, inflicting...
- RoleiaBattle of RoliçaIn the Battle of Roliça an Anglo-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated an outnumbered French army under General Henri Delaborde, near the village of Roliça in Portugal. The French retired in good order...
- VimieraBattle of VimeiroIn the Battle of Vimeiro the British under General Arthur Wellesley defeated the French under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro , near Lisbon, Portugal during the Peninsular War...
- SahagunBattle of SahagúnThe Battle of Sahagún was a cavalry clash in which the 15th Light Dragoons defeated two regiments of French cavalry during the Corunna Campaign of the Peninsular War. One of the French regiments lost so heavily that it was subsequently disbanded...
- BeneventeBattle of BenaventeThe Battle of Benavente was a cavalry clash in which the British cavalry of Lord Paget defeated the elite Chasseurs à Cheval of the French Imperial Guard during the Corunna Campaign of the Peninsular War. The French chasseurs were broken and forced into the River Esla; their commanding officer,...
- Sahagun and Benevente
- CorunnaBattle of CorunnaThe Battle of Corunna refers to a battle of the Peninsular War. On January 16, 1809, a French army under Marshal Soult attacked the British under Sir John Moore...
- MartiniqueInvasion of Martinique (1809)The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars...
- Talavera
- GuadaloupeInvasion of Guadeloupe (1810)The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British amphibious operation fought between 28 January and 6 February 1810 over control of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture...
- Busaco
- BarrosaBattle of BarrosaThe Battle of Barrosa was an unsuccessful French attack on a larger Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish force attempting to lift the siege of Cádiz, Spain during the Peninsular War...
- Fuentes D'OnorBattle of Fuentes de OnoroIn the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro , the British-Portuguese Army under Viscount Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida.-Background:...
- AlbuheraBattle of AlbueraThe Battle of Albuera was an indecisive battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.From...
- JavaAnglo-Dutch Java WarThe Anglo-Dutch Java War in 1810–1811 was a war between Britain and the Netherlands , fought entirely on the Island of Java in colonial Indonesia.-Background:...
- Ciudad RodrigoCiudad RodrigoCiudad Rodrigo is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population of about 14,000. It is the seat of a judicial district as well....
- BadajozBattle of Badajoz (1812)In the Battle of Badajoz , the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, besieged Badajoz, Spain and forced the surrender of the French garrison....
- SalamancaBattle of SalamancaThe Battle of Salamanca saw Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies under the Duke of Wellington defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles south of Salamanca, Spain on July 22, 1812 during the Peninsular War....
- Fort DetroitFort DetroitFort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...
- Chateauguay
- Chrysler's FarmBattle of Crysler's FarmThe Battle of Crysler's Farm, also known as the Battle of Crysler's Field, was fought on 11 November 1813, during the Anglo-American War of 1812. A British and Canadian force won a victory over an American force which greatly outnumbered them...
- VittoriaBattle of VitoriaAt the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
- PyreneesBattle of the PyreneesThe Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián...
- St SebastienSiege of San SebastianIn the Siege of San Sebastián Allied forces under the command of General Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington captured the city of San Sebastián in northern Spain from its French garrison under Brigadier-General Louis Rey...
- NivelleBattle of NivelleThe Battle of Nivelle took place in front of the River Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War . After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were in hot pursuit of Marshal Soult who only had 60,000 men to place in a 20-mile perimeter...
- NiveBattle of the NiveThe Battles of the Nive were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army in a series of battles near the city of Bayonne.Unusually, for most of the battle, Wellington...
- OrthesBattle of OrthezThe Battle of Orthez saw the Anglo-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington defeat a French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France near the end of the Peninsular War.-Preliminaries:...
- ToulouseBattle of Toulouse (1814)The Battle of Toulouse was one of the final battles of the Napoleonic Wars, four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the nations of the Sixth Coalition...