Medals and Honours

Victoria Cross

Made by Hancocks & Co. (Jewellers) of London, since 1856			Victoria Cross
Inscription on the obverse			For valour
Introduced to honour acts of valour in the			Crimean War
Victoria Crosses are popularly believed to be made from guns captured at			Sebastopol
Colour of the ribbon			Crimson
First recipient of the Victoria Cross (Mate, for action in the Baltic, 1854; went on to become a Rear–Admiral)			C. D. Lucas
The only combatant soldier to receive a VC and bar (New Zealander)			Charles Upham
Other VC and bar recipients (both Royal Army Medical Corps doctors – for rescuing wounded under fire)			Noel Chavasse
			Arthur Martin–Leake
The youngest ever recipient of a VC (hospital apprentice of the Indian Medical Establishment, aged 15 yrs 3 months, 1860)			Arthur FitzGibbon
16–year–old recipient in the Battle of Jutland, 1916			John Travers Cornwell
Oldest ever recipient (Lt. of the Bengal Veteran Establishment, 69 years, 11 May 1857)			W. Raynor
Awarded the VC for actions in the Falklands War (1982)			Lt.–Col. 'H' Jones
			Sgt. Ian McKay
Grenada-born recipient of the VC 2002 for action in Iraq			Johnson Beharry
Parachute Regiment corporal, awarded the VC posthumously in 2006 for action against the Taliban in Afghanistan			Bryan Budd

George Cross

Instituted in 1940, for acts of gallantry "not in the face of the enemy": primarily for civilians, but may be awarded to military personnel for gallant conduct for which purely military Honours are not normally granted; Britain's highest award for civilian bravery		George Cross
Instituted by, and named after		George VI
Inscription		For Gallantry
Made of		Silver
Colour of the ribbon		Blue (with a white cross)

The youngest female recipient, and the only one in peacetime: an air hostess who died, aged 22, while trying to evacuate passengers from a burning aeroplane at London Heathrow in 1968

Jane Harrison

Instituted at the same time as the George Cross, for lesser acts of gallantry "not in the face of the enemy" (where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the George Cross)

George Medal

Order of Merit

Holders of the Order of Merit at any time		24
In the gift of the monarch: honorary members (past and present) include T. S. Eliot (1948), Nelson Mandela (1994), Mother Teresa		Order of Merit
First woman to be awarded the Order of Merit (1907 – aged 87)		Florence Nightingale

British Orders of Knighthood

In descending order of precedence:

Founded by Edward III in 1349; in the personal gift of the sovereign since 1946; companion membership is restricted to the sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and a maximum of 24 others; "supernumary" membership was introduced in 1786; members wear a blue ribbon		Order of the Garter
Scottish order, revived in 1687, limited to 16 knights		Order of the Thistle
Founded by George III in 1783: no new knights have been created since 1936; the last was Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1974		Order of St. Patrick
Founded by George I in 1725: name refers to a purification ceremony that dates back to the Middle Ages		Order of the Bath
Motto Tria Juncta in Uno ("three joined in one") is thought to refer to the union of England, Scotland, and either Ireland or France
Founded by Queen Victoria in 1861: no new knights have been created since 1948		Order of the Star of India
Founded by the Prince Regent in 1818, to reward natives of the Ionian Islands and Malta; since revised to reward services overseas		Order of St. Michael and St. George
Founded by Queen Victoria in 1878: no new knights have been created since 1947		Order of the Indian Empire
Founded by Queen Victoria in 1896, to reward personal service to the monarch		Royal Victorian Order
Knighthood where the recipient is not admitted to an order of chivalry: the oldest category of all, instituted in the reign of Henry III (1216–72)		Knight Bachelor

The Order of the British Empire

There are five ranks in the Order of the British Empire. In ascending order of precedence, they are:

Member of the Order of the British Empire		MBE
Officer of the Order of the British Empire		OBE
Commander of the Order of the British Empire		CBE
Knight Commander (or Dame Commander) of the Order of the British Empire		KBE or DBE
Knight Grand Cross (or Dame Grand Cross) of the Order of the British Empire		GBE

The only ones that most of us are likely to hear about are MBE, OBE and CBE, and it's important to know the order of precedence among these three.

US decorations

The USA's highest military decoration – a five–pointed star, with different versions for the Army, Navy, and Air Force – "equivalent to the Victoria Cross"		(Congressional) Medal of Honour
Highest US civilian award		Presidential Medal of Freedom
The USA's oldest decoration – instituted by George Washington in 1782 and awarded to servicemen wounded in action		Purple Heart

Other

Instituted in 1866 for saving life at sea or on land		Albert Medal
Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal: awarded for outstanding services to		Ballet
Informal name (English translation) for the Pour La Mérite – Prussia and Germany's highest military honour, 1740–1918		Blue Max
Japan's highest honour is the Order of the		Chrysanthemum
Replaced the CGM, DSO and DCM, in 1995; ranks second only to the VC		Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
French medal, instituted in  1915 for mention in dispatches		Croix de Guerre
Tongue–in–cheek honours, originating in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985, recognising individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool by their own actions, via death or sterility		Darwin Awards
Award for acts of bravery by animals serving with the Armed Forces or Civil Defence units – "the animals' Victoria Cross" – administered by the PDSA, instituted in 1943 by its founder, and named in her honour		Dickin Medal
German military decoration, iron Maltese cross edged with silver		Iron Cross
France's highest decoration – established by Napoleon in 1802		Legion d'Honneur
The "third level" decoration for all ranks (since 1993) of the British Armed Forces for gallantry on land: created in 1914, and up to 1993 awarded to commissioned officers of the rank of captain or below		Military Cross
British decoration, established in 1916 (retrospective to 1914) and awarded to personnel below commissioned rank: inscribed on the reverse, "For bravery in the field"; replaced in 1993 by the extension of the one above to all ranks		Military Medal
Awarded to British soldiers mentioned in dispatches		Oak leaf
The Soviet Union's highest decoration		Order of Lenin
Honorific conferred by the State of Israel on non–Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save the lives of Jews – e.g. Oskar Schindler		Righteous Among the Nations
"Let not the deep swallow me up" is the inscription on the gold medal of the		RNLI
Instituted in 1982 for service in the Falklands Campaign		South Atlantic Medal

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22