London Gazette and the National Archives

[SharonV]

Hi. Could anybody help please?

I thought that I've read somewhere about looking at the London Gazette would help me locate records in the National Archive, however I'm not having much luck.

I'm looking for more information as to what my uncle, William Ernest Lindley of the 8th Devons, was awarded his Gallantry medal for. On his record, which I found on https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/...nce=arrowLinks, it says his name would appear in a official report which would have been written by a Superior Officer and sent to the high command, in which is described the Soldier's gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. It is this report I am looking for or something similar. I can find the record in Despatches but I hit a brick wall after this.

I would appreciate any information anyone can provide.

Thank you in advance.

Sharon

[Neil Wilson]

Hello Sharon and welcome

The London Gazette is printed to announce the awarding of medals, awards and promotion.

For the National Archives, have you read this link?

[geneius]

The London Gazette is published under the authority and superintendence of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

It carries news / information not necessarily printed in other newspapers, all state notices, all parliamentary corporate insolvency etc.

Matters that are of interest to family historians are:

in addition to announce the awarding of medals, awards and promotion within the Army / Navy /RAF

Civil Service appointments / Change of Name ( by Deed Poll) / Deceased persons estates / Personal Insolvency / Legal notices in connection with businesses/ Patents etc


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_London_Gazette

[timbo58]

The commanding officer would always submit a report: whether that report resulted in an actual citation within the LG depends on the level of the medal to be honest.

The medal would have to be a VC/GC possibly a GM to almost certainly have a full written published citation, those should be on the LG pages.
An MID was never given a separate public citation that I am aware of (although I'll bet there was an exception somewhere!)
MIDs could (and were) given repeatedly to some soldiers (9 times in some cases!).

The commanding officers recommendation could be in the national archives somewhere but the chances of this being online anywhere are pretty slim, when we receive requests for a professional researcher to go into the TNA it's one of the 1st things he looks for -most are still in paper or microfiche form only however so a lot of searching is done to find them (or not).
Sometimes the mention is recorded in the units war diary: this is where most find at least a short mention of the recommendation, however whether this would be seen as 'worthwhile' (as it may not contain more than a few words!) is debatable.

[Peter Goodey]

What gallantry award? When?

Have you read the National Archives Research Guide?

[timbo58]

it was a MID in this case in 1945

[timbo58]

and I stand corrected!
Gazette number 29436 dated 11/1/16 does indeed have citations for officers MID. This must be very much the exception however as I've never seen them before and if I hadn't been specifically looking for other awards made to those already in receipt of the MVO award I'd never have seen it.

Had to read it twice to realise it really was a citation for an MID only!

[Colin Rowledge]

it was a MID in this case in 1945

What exactly was an MD? I recognize several - e.g. VC, MM, GC etc. - but not this one. Where would it renk in order of Gallantry Medals?

Colin

[Peter Goodey]

What exactly was an MD? I recognize several - e.g. VC, MM, GC etc. - but not this one. Where would it renk in order of Gallantry Medals?

It's got me confused, Colin. The question talks about a "gallantry medal" but I think Tim is saying that it was just a mention in despatches (MID). MID ranks below MC or MM.

I think the relevant series is WO 373 which is on line.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils?uri=C14577

[timbo58]

Yes it was a 'mention in despatches', we gathered most of wo373s mentions and awards listings some time ago and are very steadily working through them all, currently also adding in the full citations where these were published.