Medals and Index Card

[Rog Peek]

Hello, Just joined, I am here as a result of working on my family tree.
Have a couple of questions, I hope someone can answer for me:
I had a great grand uncle William John Maidment of South Cerney Gloucestershire who joined The 1st Battalion of The Welsh Regiment c.1899 as Private 6689. I know he was serving in Egypt in 1911 (1911 census), but have no knowledge of his service prior to that, except he must have been in for a while as in 1911 he had risen to the rank of Sergeant, which was, the first entry for rank on his Medal Roll index card.
He later became Company Quartermaster Sergeant and on 27th January 1916 was granted a commission to 2nd Lieutenant. Eventually he was to rise to the rank of Captain.
I have assumed that he enlisted when he reached the age of 18 which would have been in c.1899, this being the case, then he may have served in the Boer War. If so, then he would have received the Queen’s South Africa medal. If he had, would this have been entered on his Medal Index Card? If not, is there anywhere I could search for medals awarded in the Boer War.
The other questions are to do with his Medal Roll Index Card:
1. There is an asterisk at the intersection of the line which separates the’ Name’ box from the ‘Corps’ box on the line where his second rank of ‘Lieut A/Capt’ is written. Can anyone tell me please, what significance if any this asterisk has?
2. Sometime after William’s card was initially made out, the following information was added (different colour ink):- His Christian names (prior to that there had been only initials) and the letters M.C. in the name box, and the word ‘Emblems’ in the medal roll list.
Apart from changes in rank, The only entry in The Gazette I can find is the awarding of his Military Cross, no other M in Ds. Now my question is would the ‘Emblems’ have been for a different act of gallantry than that for which the Military Cross was awarded and if not, would he still have been entitled to display the Oak Leaf Spray on his Victory Medal ribbon?
Incidentally William retired in 1922 and went back to live in the village of South Cerney. Must have seemed very quiet and tranquil!
Thanks for reading, would be very grateful for assistance.
Roger

[Peter Goodey]

I wouldn't make too much of the medal index card - it's only an index. It relates to WW1 and won't include the Boer Wars.

I would get his service record from the National Archives if I were you

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/C1109500

Medal rolls which may include South African campaigns are in National Archives series WO100. This is online at Ancestry.

WW1 medal rolls (the ones referred to on the medal index card) are also available on Ancestry.

I think I saw a MiD in the Gazette. It might be worth having another look.

All National Archives data is free if you visit in person.

You may like to read the National Archives guidance on Campaign Medals

[Rog Peek]

Thank you Peter for your reply. I'm really trying to exhaust all avenues before I go to the expense of service records and/or personal visits. Yes, I had found the M in D entry in the Gazette ( Suplement 1 January, Page 41) on Ancestry, and assumed that was why he had “Emblems” on his Medal Index Card, but then I went looking for the Military Cross and couldn’t find that in a Gazette search. Then, almost as a last resort I went through the preceding pages to page 41 and found on Page 30, that this was actually a list of recipients of the Military Cross. Hence my question as to whether the “Emblems” could be for the same act of Gallantry as the “Military Cross” or whether there was another M in D I just hadn’t found.

Regards
Roger

[Peter Goodey]

As you say, you sometimes have to go back several pages to find out what list he's in! Keywords Maidment and Welsh together with date filtering may help. To the best of my knowledge, 'emblem' implies MiD but others may know better.

[Rog Peek]

OK Thanks Peter.

[simmo1]

Hi

Emblem refers to the issue of the oakleaves (1 small and 1 large) which are the representation of the MID. A certificate was also issued. What is the date for the MC and the MID? He would be entitled to show the oakleaf on his Victory medal. The London Gazette is hard to search, his mid may be under W J Maidment, you have to play around!
As stated above and Boer War medal entitlement will be on the Boer War medal rolls, which are on Ancestry.
The blue cross besides Captain lines up with the blue cross in the Victory medal line and indicates that his Victory and BWM should have Captain on them.
Unfortunately the red asterisk has no other reference?
Originally the card was written out for the 15 star- the red, then all the other info was added for the other medals etc, in blue.

regards

Robert

[Rog Peek]

You're right about the Gazette Robert, but I finally did find his MiD, so I have a record now of that and his MC. Thank you so much for the explanation of the Medal Card, that was really helpful.

Regards
Roger