Research Notes

“The Southend & District Roll of Honour 1914-21”, compiled by Jeffrey Jarvis (1998; referred to in this roll as “Southend book”). It is based on a book issued just after the war but greatly expanded to include material from local newspapers, photographs, graves in local cemeteries etc. Not all MM recipients from the Southend area are listed, but there is sometimes useful additional information including dates of when information appeared in newspapers.

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"British Line Regiments DCM and MM awards 1914-1920" by C K Bate and H J Williamson.

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"For Bravery in the Field - Great War British Army Recipients of the Military Medal 1914-1920"  by Peter Warrington.

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The total of 762 awards of the Military Medal recorded in the alphabetical list cannot be said confidently to be the correct total.

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Based on the evidence of Grimwade, whose medal is named to the 3rd Bn, there are also probably other early MMs that are named to the Depot or 3rd Bn when the MM had been earned with a Battalion at the front. There seems no reason why those handling the issue of the medal when it was first introduced would have adopted a different approach when presented with information that an individual was serving with one regiment having lately been with another: thus the MMs earned by C L Long and Fred Smith are assumed to be named to the Essex Regiment even though possibly or certainly earned with another unit. The only example of an MM card noted as “late Essex R” is 5887 Cpl Charles Driver, 2/5th Gloucestershire R. He had previously been 2238 in one of the Essex Regiment Territorial Battalions, and was later 242097 in the Gloucestershire Regiment, receiving the British War and Victory Medals. His MM appears in the Gazette of 10 August 1916 p7886 and states only Gloucestershire Regiment (TF). Coupled with the absence of an Essex Regiment battalion number on the MM card, this provides evidence that the award was earned with the Gloucestershire Regiment.

 

There was one cancelled award. The MM to 300181 Cpl (L/Sjt) J C Standing, 1/7th Bn appears in the Gazette for 2 April 1918, page 4021, and is also listed as an MM recipient in the regimental history by Burrows, volume 5. The MM card states “cancelled PTO” but it is not possible to view the rear of the card. Deletion of the announcement of the MM may be found in the Gazette 12 July 1920, page 7429, the correct award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal appearing on page 7428 of that Gazette. Given the elapse of time, one wonders whether the MM was issued and then subsequently recovered from the recipient. It is not counted for the purposes of this roll.

 

It is noticeable how many of the early MMs gazetted in 1916 – no fewer than 14 - had been preceded by a mention in dispatches. This suggests strongly that many  of these “mentions”, which had not been sufficient to warrant a Distinguished Conduct Medal, were upgraded to the newly created MM and that the individuals concerned may have received two acknowledgements for the same act of bravery. The “mentions” concerned appear in:

 

• the Gazette of 5 May 1916: 8 men from 1st Bn are listed, as additions to Sir Ian Hamilton’s dispatch of 11 December 1915. Five of them also received MMs among the first gazetted awards on 3 June, and four of these are noted as awards for Gallipoli;

• the Gazette of 15 June 1916: 12 men from the Service Battalions are listed, six of whom received MMs in Gazettes from September to December 1916. The high proportion of MIDs and MM earned in the same year is unusual. However some of this group may have performed further acts of gallantry that earned them the MM, as is likely to have been the case with three soldiers who were “mentioned” in January 1916 and received the MM in September or November 1916 (15054 Pte C W Halsey, 8243 A/Sjt W Hardy and 9009 Sjt E W Short). 

 

The creation of the Military Medal was announced in the London Gazette on 5 April 1916, the warrant having been signed by King George V on 25 March. It seems likely that the recommendations for “mentions” would have been submitted in the period before information on the new award had reached commanding officers in the field.

 

The date when the award of an MM was announced in the London Gazette is rarely a reliable guide as to the date of the act of bravery that it recognised. In spring 1917, four MMs to the 10th Bn known to have been for the capture of Irles on 10 March were gazetted only 5 weeks later. In contrast, Army Orders 320, 4th Army announced 5 MMs to the 10th Bn on 20 December 1918 and all subsequently appeared in the Gazette of 13 March 1919. Two of the recipients had been killed in late October 1918, suggesting that there had been a delay of at least two months between the act of bravery and the “local” notification and a delay of about five months as a minimum before appearance in the Gazette. The MM earned by 17231 Pte J H Sait before he was killed at the end of July 1916 was gazetted at least six and a half months later; and MMs appearing in the Gazette in August 1919 must have been for acts of bravery at least 9 months earlier.

 

Gazettes after the war came to an end generally give the Battalion number. For other recipients whose medals have not been on the market or noted in private collections, information on the Battalion has been drawn from the medal index cards and – in a minority of cases - from regimental histories or other sources. In the event of any conflict of information, the medal index cards are preferred as a source. The cards give the battalion number only for the first award: unless other evidence exists of the battalion with which a man was serving when awarded a bar, it is assumed that subsequent bars were earned with the same battalion. Regrettably there is one MM card that has not been traced. This is to Pte Skinner who received his bar with 11th Bn. While we cannot be entirely confident, given that he is known to have served previously with 2nd Bn, the late Gazette date (October 1918) suggests that he earned the MM with 11th Bn and this is assumed for the purposes of the analysis of awards to Battalions.

 

First names are found on some medal index cards but not others. The MM cards for awards gazetted in 1919 give the first names in almost all cases. Forenames are not given in the London Gazette for awards of the MM and sometimes the full initials are not given. Forenames have also been derived from Soldiers Died or the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Any discrepancy between the full names and initials as they appear in the Gazette are noted.

 

The London Gazette does not generally include citations for awards of the Military Medal. The main exceptions are awards to women, generic citations for escaping or attempting to escape and a small clutch of belated awards in the Gazette of 30 March 1920 page 4015 onwards (one of which was to a member of the Essex Yeomanry). Where details of the reasons for the award have been recorded in regimental histories, war diaries or other sources, these are noted. Local newspapers have not been extensively searched and are likely to yield further information in many cases.

 

The rank shown at the start of each entry is that noted in the London Gazette which announced the award of the MM. Other ranks held e.g. on award of a bar or when killed are noted separately. Information on campaign medal entitlement for the First World War is drawn from the medal index cards and, for the Boer War, from a transcription of the rolls in WO100. (Abbreviations used are: BWM = British War Medal; VM = Victory Medal; TFWM = Territorial Force War Medal)

 

Men who lost their lives on active service died in France and Flanders unless otherwise noted. While information has been reproduced from Soldiers Died, information on where men are buried or commemorated has not been sought from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (see www.cwgc.org).