Family History - the medals

Had a real panic on Sunday. We had the house upside down trying to find Granddad Little's war medals. Turned out they were in a chest previously checked by Margaret, but ho-hum, just relieved to know where they were. The three medals awarded to my grandfather Richard Gibson Little are the 1914-15 Star; the British War Medal 1914-18 and the Allied Victory Medal.

I've included some information about the medals below.

The medals are all inscribed: 15891 Pte R G Little, York. & Lanc. R.

I presume the number is his service number and would suggest that the citation for the DCM (mentioned in the previous post) was a different R Little (different number and different regiment) - the York and Lancaster Regiment for my granddad as opposed to the West Riding Regiment.

The fact that he has the 1914-15 Star, as opposed to the 1914 Star would suggest that he wasn't involved in the very earliest battles of the war, in particular the First Battle of Mons. I think that bit of misinformation came from Uncle Don who was a career soldier. I showed him the medals to see if he knew which ribbon went with which medal. He didn’t, but he told me that it was a Mons Star which meant he’d fought in the first Battle of Mons. In fact, there’s a very slight difference in the 1914 Star and the 1914-15 Star (which is explained below). It’s useful to have the internet to find out information like that. I was able to see which ribbon went with which in a flash.

I was also able to find out some information on the York and Lancaster regiment. The restricted recruiting area for the regiment (described below) suggests that Richard was in South Yorkshire when he joined up. We were always led to believe that he was in the army when the First World War was declared, so he must have moved across from Penrith (not that far really) before the war and been working in South Yorkshire.

I’ll have to look into his war record, but he could well have been in the Second Battalion, which was in Ireland when war was declared and shipped over to France in September 1914. It arrived in time to help stem the German breakthrough and stabilise the line of trenches which became the Western Front. It wasn’t a great regiment to join with almost 9,000 killed from 57,000 men. That’s a 16 per cent chance of being killed. The actual rate of attrition for those in France would have been much higher because half the regiment was serving in other, less dangerous theatres. I've attached a small note (below) from Wikipedia on the York and Lancaster Regiment and also some notes on the medals.

There is still a mystery over the ‘Gibson’. At some stage Richard Little became Richard Gibson Little. He’s described as R G Little on his war medals. The story was that he was married before his marriage to Nelly (my grandmother), but the family didn’t approve, his wife died and, heartbroken, he adopted her name and joined the army.

He was married before, but to Annie Braithwaite and in 1917, when he’d already been in the army for at least three years. She died in 1919. Perhaps the Gibson story has some truth in it, but perhaps there was no marriage, just a love affair. Richard clearly wasn’t rich or skilled (and was also possibly illegitimate), so he might not have been a great catch from a father's point of view. Richard was born in 1888 and so would have been 24 when war broke out – plenty old enough to have had a 'past'.

I guess we’ll never know the truth, but I think there’s some root for the stories there.

History of the York and Lancaster Regiment

It was formed in 1881 through the amalgamation of two other regiments:

                65th (2nd Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment

                84th (York and Lancaster) Regiment

The title of the regiment was derived not from the cities of York and Lancaster, or from the counties. Instead, the name came from the fact that it recruited from, amongst other places, landed properties owned by the Duchy of York and the Duchy of Lancaster. The regiment's recruiting area was in fact wholly within South Yorkshire (an area known as Hallamshire). Indeed, the regiment's Territorial Army battalion dropped its number and was known simply as The Hallamshire Battalion from 1924.

The new regiment saw service in both Egypt and Sudan immediately after its formation, and also during the Second Boer War, when it took part in the Relief of Ladysmith.

First World War

The regiment raised 22 battalions for service in the First World War, of which eight saw action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. During the war it suffered 48,650 casualties out of 57,000 men serving, with 8,814 killed or died of wounds (72 out of every 100 men being either wounded or killed). The regiment won four Victoria Crosses and 59 battle honours, the largest number for any English regiment during the war.

The 22 battalions consisted of the two regular battalions, the depot battalion, six Territorial Army battalions, nine Service, two Reserve, one Transport and one Labour battalion. 17 of the 22 battalions saw service overseas.

During the Battle of the Somme the Yorks and Lancs' eight battalions that went over the top on the first day suffered huge casualties, the three Pals battalions; 12th (Sheffield City), 13th and 14th Barnsley Pals Battalions, in particular suffering heavily. Eleven battalions of the regiment fought during the Somme campaign.

The regular 1st Battalion returned from service in India to be formed up as part of the 28th Division. The 28th Division consisted of regular battalions returning from overseas service and was shipped to France in January 1915. The 1st Battalion saw action in the Second Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Loos. The battalion was then shipped to the Balkans as part of the British Salonika Army where it would remain until the end of the war.^[2] While the battalion was still in France Private Samuel Harvey won the York and Lancs' first Victoria Cross since the regiment's creation in 1881.

The 2nd Battalion was stationed in Ireland with the 16th Brigade when war broke out. The battalion arrived on the Western Front in September 1914 with the 6th Division as part of the original British Expeditionary Force. The 2nd Battalion fought its first battle at Armentières during the Race to the Sea. The 2nd Battalion fought in most of the major battles of the war including the Battle of the Somme and spent the entire war serving in France and Flanders. Private John Caffrey, 2nd battalion, won the Victoria Cross in 1915.

These are the three medals awarded to Richard Little:

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred are the affectionate names given to the three WW1 campaign medals — The 1914 Star or 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal respectively. These medals were primarily awarded to the Old Contemptibles ( B.E.F. ). and by convention all three medals are worn together and in the same order from left to right when viewed from the front. The set of three medals or at least the British War Medal and the Victory Medal are the most likely medals to be found among family heirlooms.

When the WW1 medals were issued in the 1920's it coincided with a popular comic strip published by the Daily Mirror newspaper. It was written by Bertram J. Lamb (Uncle Dick), and drawn by the cartoonist Austin Bowen Payne (A.B. Payne). Pip was the dog, Squeak the penguin and Wilfred the young rabbit. It is believed that A. B. Payne's batman during the war had been nicknamed “Pip-squeak” and this is where the idea for the names of the dog and penguin came from. For some reason the three names of the characters became associated with the three campaign medals being issued at that time to many thousands of returning servicemen, and they stuck.

Mutt and Jeff”

The two British campaign medals commonly found as family heirlooms nicknamed Mutt and Jeff: the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In a similar vein when only the British War Medal and Victory Medal are on display together they are sometimes known as “Mutt and Jeff”.

The 1914 Star

Established in April 1917.

Also known as 'Pip' or the 'Mons Star'.

This bronze medal award was authorized by King George V in April 1917 for those who had served in France or Belgium between 5^th August 1914 to midnight on 22^nd November 1914 inclusive. The award was open to officers and men of the British and Indian Expeditionary Forces, doctors and nurses as well as Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Navy Reserve and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who served ashore with the Royal Naval Division in France or Belgium.

A narrow horizontal bronze clasp sewn onto the ribbon, bearing the dates '5th AUG. - 22nd NOV. 1914' shows that the recipient had actually served under fire of the enemy during that period. For every seven medals issued without a clasp there were approximately five issued with the clasp.

Recipients who received the medal with the clasp were also entitled to attach a small silver heraldic rose to the ribbon when just the ribbon was being worn.

The reverse is plain with the recipient's service number, rank, name and unit impressed on it.

It should be remembered that recipients of this medal were responsible for assisting the French to hold back the German army while new recruits could be trained and equipped. Collectively, they fully deserve a great deal of honour for their part in the first sixteen weeks of the Great War. This included the battle of Mons, the retreat to the Seine, the battles of Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne and the first battle of Ypres. There were approximately 378,000 1914 Stars issued.

The 1914-15 Star (this is what my granddad has)

Established in December 1918.

Also known as 'Pip'.

This bronze medal was authorized in 1918. It is very similar to the 1914 Star but it was issued to a much wider range of recipients. Broadly speaking it was awarded to all who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5^th August 1914 and 31^st December 1915, except those eligible for the 1914 Star. Similarly, those who received the Africa General Service Medal or the Sudan 1910 Medal were not eligible for the award.

Like the 1914 Star, the 1914-15 Star was not awarded alone. The recipient had to have received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The reverse is plain with the recipient's service number, rank, name and unit impressed on it.

An estimated 2.4 million of these medals were issued.

The British War Medal, 1914-18 (also this)

Established on 26^th July 1919.

Also known as 'Squeak'.

The silver or bronze medal was awarded to officers and men of the British and Imperial Forces who either entered a theatre of war or entered service overseas between 5^th August 1914 and 11^thNovember 1918 inclusive. This was later extended to services in Russia, Siberia and some other areas in 1919 and 1920.

Approximately 6.5 million British War Medals were issued. Approximately 6.4 million of these were the silver versions of this medal. Around 110,000 of a bronze version were issued mainly to Chinese, Maltese and Indian Labour Corps. The front of the medal depicts the head of George V.

The recipient's service number, rank, name and unit was impressed on the rim.

The Allied Victory Medal (and this)

Also known as 'Wilfred'

It was decided that each of the allies should each issue their own bronze victory medal with a similar design, similar equivalent wording and identical ribbon.

The British medal was designed by W. McMillan. The front depicts a winged classical figure representing victory.

Approximately 5.7 million victory medals were issued. Interestingly, eligibility for this medal was more restrictive and not everyone who received the British War Medal ('Squeak') also received the Victory Medal ('Wilfred'). However, in general, all recipients of 'Wilfred' also received 'Squeak' and all recipients of 'Pip' also received both 'Squeak' and 'Wilfred'.