MEDAL CARD NOTE

[Barnzzz]

Hello, I have my G Uncle's medal card. He was killed in 1915 by friendly fire. There is a note which reads "Ofc Rect requests. Auth to dispose of medals 14.6.22"

My mum remembers the family being very bitter about his death and thinks this may mean that they refused to receive his medals.

Has anyone heard of anything similar ?

Sue

[daggers]

Could the note be abbreviations for "Officer i/c Records requests authority..."?
I think that many individuals and families did return medals, for many reasons.
D

[Barnzzz]

Hi Daggers, it could say that, in fact it probably does. Can you tell me what i/c stands for, is it 'in charge'?

Sue

[daggers]

Yes! [This answer is too short for the system, so I have added the bit in brackets]. D

[Barnzzz]

Thanks Daggers

[leamington]

If the card does not say "Returned" (or often "Retd") on the front, the family received the medals in 1922. "Disposed of" does not in this case mean "thrown away".

[Barnzzz]

It doesn't say returned on the front. Surely though if the officer in charge is asking for, or already has, authority to dispose of the medals, it must mean he has them and so they must have been returned.

Or maybe it means he wasn't able to get rid of them in the first place................?

I'm rambling now. I have no idea what it all means............

[Terry Reeves]

You need to check the actual medal roll to see if there is any more information regarding their disposal. You may not get much more if there is, but all sources need to be covered.

[Barnzzz]

Thanks Terry

[Andrewb]

Barnzzz

The note translates as the Officer in Charge Records asking for authority to dispose of the medals to the next of kin.

In short the medal rolls were compiled by the respective record offices and sent to the War Office medals branch. The medals branch would engrave the medals with the personal details of the recipient and send the medals back to the record office for issue to the recipient or, if deceased, to their next of kin. It would appear in this case that the next of kin has been established and the Oi/c records was asking the war office for authority to dispose of them to the next of kin. Reading between the lines it looks as if there may have been some delay in establishing this, hence the correspondence between the RO and the WO. If you were to look at the medal rolls as Terry suggests you will obtain the date that the medals were issued. As the card is not annotated to the effect that the medals were returned it is unlikely that they were. It is rare (but not impossible) for the card and roll not to say the same thing with regard to returned medals. No harm in checking the roll but I think that's what you will find.

Andrew