The Imperial Military Order of St. George was instituted on the 26th of November, 1769 by the Empress Catherine the Great to reward both military and naval officers for exceptional bravery. Nicholas Carlisle, in his book The Several Foreign Orders of Knighthood states some of the exemplary
Read more →In a previous blog I wrote about the British Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840 (NGS) awarded to the most common type of vessel in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars, the Cruizer-class brig-sloop of 18 guns. Medals to these smaller vessels have always fascinated me, as
Read more →The Military General Service Medal along with the Naval General Service Medal and Army of India Medal have long been known as The Three Classic Retrospective Medals in the British medal collecting community. Retrospective is an appropriate descriptor as the Military General Service Medal was finally issued
Read more →The history behind the early appearance of Napoleonic miniature orders & medals worn by British Officers is not well documented. One significant comment regarding the origin of miniatures comes from the noted author J. M. Mayo in his publication entitled ‘Medals and Decorations of the British Army
Read more →The Battle of Copenhagen on April 2nd, 1801 is commemorated on the British side by a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840 (NGS), issued in 1849. It falls in the category of NGS clasps approved because a commissioned officer was promoted, as opposed to it
Read more →The Statutes of the British Most Honorable Order of the Bath were first issued on January 25th, 1725. Modeled off of the Statutes for the Order of the Garter, there would be Knight’s Stalls, Arms, Robes, Insignia and other similar attributes. The Knights of the Bath would
Read more →The recent sale at DNW in London of the John Goddard Collection of Important Naval Medals, was a fantastic event for any collector interested in medals of the Napoleonic period – of course, particularly for those interested in the British Naval General Service medal 1793-1840 (NGS). I was able to attend
Read more →Eleven days after the Duke of Wellington’s triumph at Waterloo, the British Parliament debated what steps should be taken to commemorate the great victory. Parliament had previously been opposed to granting any award to the common soldier. In this case, national sentiment ran high and an overwhelming
Read more →