Read the rim
Hold the medal edge-on under a lamp and read the naming with a magnifier. A Great War medal reads something like “24081 PTE. J. SMITH. R. SUSS. R.”
That gives a service number, a rank, initials and a surname, and an abbreviated regiment. Write it down exactly, including the punctuation, since the style of the naming is itself evidence of authenticity. Photograph the rim by rolling the medal slowly under a lamp and taking four shots.
What the abbreviations mean
The rim is abbreviated to fit, and the abbreviations are the first thing that stops a reader.
| Rank on a rim | Means |
|---|---|
| PTE | Private |
| RFN | Rifleman |
| GNR | Gunner |
| DVR | Driver |
| SPR | Sapper |
| TPR | Trooper |
| BDR | Bombardier |
| L/CPL, CPL, SJT | Lance corporal, corporal, serjeant |
| C.S.M., R.S.M. | Company and regimental serjeant major |
| 2. LIEUT., LIEUT., CAPT., MAJ. | Officer ranks |
| A.B., LDG. SMN., P.O. | Able seaman, leading seaman, petty officer |
| Unit on a rim | Means |
|---|---|
| R. SUSS. R. | Royal Sussex Regiment |
| R.F.A., R.G.A., R.H.A. | Royal Field, Garrison and Horse Artillery |
| R.E. | Royal Engineers |
| M.G.C. | Machine Gun Corps |
| R.A.M.C. | Royal Army Medical Corps |
| A.S.C. | Army Service Corps |
| K.R.R.C. | King’s Royal Rifle Corps |
| D.L.I. | Durham Light Infantry |
| R. FUS., LAN. FUS. | Royal Fusiliers, Lancashire Fusiliers |
| A. & S.H. | Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders |
| R.N.V.R. | Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve |
A man who transferred appears under two numbers and two units, and his medals may name the later one. That is normal and the medal index card resolves it.
First World War
Medal index cards. Every man who received Great War medals has a card at the National Archives, series WO 372, searchable by name and number online. It is the single best starting point, and it is free to search.
A card carries these fields, and knowing what each one is turns a scan into a biography.
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Name, rank, unit, number | Every version he served under, listed in order |
| Medal | Victory, British and Star, each with a roll reference |
| Roll reference | The volume and page of the medal roll, for the fuller entry |
| Theatre of war first served in | A code, explained below |
| Date of entry therein | The day he first went overseas. This dates his war |
| Remarks | Discharge, death, prisoner of war, wounds, or a Silver War Badge number |
The theatre codes are the part that looks like nonsense and is not.
| Code | Theatre |
|---|---|
| 1 | Western Europe. 1a France and Flanders, 1b Italy |
| 2 | Balkans. 2b covers Gallipoli and the Dardanelles |
| 3 | Egypt |
| 4 | Africa |
| 5 | Asia |
| 6 | Australasia |
A card reading “1a, 14.8.15” means he landed in France on 14 August 1915, which rules out a 1914 Star and places him in the 1914 to 15 Star entitlement.
Service records. Series WO 363 and WO 364 hold the surviving army service records. Around two-thirds were destroyed by bombing in 1940, so a record is a bonus rather than an expectation. Officers’ records are in WO 339 and WO 374, and they survive far better.
If he died. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission database gives the date, the cemetery or memorial, and, for most men, the parents’ or widow’s address. Soldiers Died in the Great War, available through subscription sites, gives the place of birth and enlistment.
Gallantry. The London Gazette printed every award and is searchable free. Military Medals appear as a name and number without a citation. The DCM, MC and DSO carry citations from 1916 onwards. Regimental histories and the war diaries in WO 95 then give the action, day by day.
Second World War
Medals were issued unnamed to British forces, so research starts from family papers rather than the rim. The named card box of issue, a paybook, a discharge certificate or a photograph is what opens the file. Name the medals themselves from their ribbons first: how to identify a medal by its ribbon gives the official colours for each of the nine stars and three medals, which fixes where the man served before any record is ordered.
Service records are held by the Ministry of Defence and released to next of kin on application, with a fee and a form. Second World War army records are being transferred to the National Archives in batches, so check there first before paying for a disclosure that may already be public.
Squadron and unit records, operational record books for the RAF in AIR 27, and ships’ logs give the rest once the unit is known.
Victorian and earlier campaigns
Medal rolls. Series WO 100 holds the rolls for campaign medals from 1793 to 1912, listing every man entitled and the clasps he received. A medal that does not match the roll is a warning sign, and the roll is the check a specialist makes before bidding.
Muster rolls and pay lists. WO 12 records where a regiment was and who was in it, month by month. It places a man in a company and a station when nothing else will.
The Waterloo Medal. The roll survives, published in book form, and gives the regiment and company of every recipient. Cavalry, Guards and the regiments that stood at Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte carry premiums for that reason.
Navy and air force
Royal Navy ratings’ records are in ADM 188 and ADM 139; officers in ADM 196. Royal Flying Corps and RAF records for the Great War are in AIR 79 for other ranks and AIR 76 for officers.
Naval medals were named with the ship as well as the man, which the rolls confirm, and a ship is easier to research than a battalion because its movements are published.
The research file, in order
Compile it in the order below, and stop when the medal’s value no longer justifies the hours.
- A clear photograph of each medal, obverse, reverse and rim.
- The transcription of the naming, exactly as struck.
- The medal index card, printed.
- The CWGC entry if he died, with the cemetery and the inscription.
- The London Gazette page for any gallantry award.
- The war diary extract for the action, or the date he landed.
- A one-page summary in plain sentences, at the front.
That last page is the one that sells the group. A bidder reading a catalogue has a minute, and a paragraph naming the battalion, the landing date and the action does more than forty pages of printouts behind it.
What research does to the price
A trio with a name is worth one figure. The same trio with a research file showing the man’s battalion, his date of arrival in France, the actions he fought in and, if it applies, how he died, is worth more and sells faster, because the buyer can see the story.
Auction houses do this research for important groups. For ordinary ones it is an evening’s work with the sources above, most of which are free. The valuation guide shows how the story sets the price, the price records give illustrative hammer ranges, and the selling guide sets out what the two houses that publish their rates charge to sell a group.
