Crimea Medal Named "Major J.E. McKenzie"

[Dante242]

Named Crimea medal, to "Major J.E. McKenzie" in cursive (Engraved), no regiment, been unable to find anyone on the roll or army lists..apart from it may be fraudulent or self awarded, would welcome any assistance in tracing him.. thanks, for looking regards, Paul

[christanel]

Welcome to the British Genealogy forums which is affiliated with Forces War Records.
I see from my internet searches that you have been working for a while to try and establish ownership of this medal without success.
I am not having any luck either other than general information about the medals. Interesting that a consignment of the Btitish verion of the medals were lost at sea so some individuals received the Turkish medal.
I did look on ScotlandsPeople to see if there was a birth of a J. E. McKenzie that would fall in to the time frame so searched from 1800 to 1840. There are over a thousand with the first initial J but only one with the initials J E and he was James Edmond McKenzie and baptised in 1840 so too young to be a Major in the Crimean war.
What prompted me to look for Scottish births were articles about a Scottish born New Zealand politician John McKenzie born 1839 in Ardross.
There is no McKenzie in the list of British Army Personnel in the Crimean War on Wikipedia.
I haven't searched army records yet although I can't see that I will find anything more than you have discovered in your searches.
The medal you have only has the Sebastapol clasp?
Christina

[christanel]

Using family search.org I entered Major J E McKenzie 1810 - 1890 and did get one result for a burial of a Major J R Mckenzie on the Findagrave Index
J. R. (Major) Mackenzie
Death Date - 1865
Event Type- Burial
Dingwall, Highland, Scotland
Cemetery, Saint Clements Churchyard

Unfortunately it says the original image has been removed from the Find a Grave site.
So on ScotlandsPeople using just the surname McKenzie and Dingwall as the place of death registration there are 5 results, two with the initial J. One is age 35 and the other age 4. There is no middle initial for either of them. Removing Dingwall as the registration place of death only brings up the two same people.

There's also a Major General Alexnder Mckenzie buried in St Clements cemetery 1890.
Christina

Have you tried The London Gazette for any record f this man?

[Dante242]

Many thanks for your kind reply, here are my thoughts.

Nothing on ancestry, findmypast, genenet, london gazette, army lists

If its fraudulent (not entitled), as in the owner/wearer who wore the medal they must have the same name "J.E.McKenzie" but cannot find anyone of that name.
The medal was found in the USA, no note of it being sold before.

The medal roll is not complete, Mackenzie and McKenzie are often interchangeable.
No Regiment noted

Its interesting!!

[christanel]

As the medals were issued without names, but could be returned for this to be done in Roman capitals yours being engraved in cursive could have been done at any time from 1854 on. If done by someone who never served in the Crimea they hadn't research what style of script it should have been done in.
Unfortunately this looks like it is going to remain a mystery. The original owner - more than likely not J E McKenzie - may not have lived to receive it and his next of kin then didn't bother having it done officially free of charge. This has left you with a conundrum. I wonder how it found its way to the US.
It may not have been worn by anyone by the name of J E McKenzie but just engraved with the McKenzie surname of the person who had it engraved and given false first name initials to present as belonging to a Mckenzie ancestor. Scientific methods may be able to reveal when the engraving was done but that would cost! You need a rich benefactor.

[Lesley Robertson]

You may already be taking this into account, it it’s worth mentioning that some databases do not always treat names beginning with Mc and Mac as the same, but records can vary. If someone is not to be found, try both. Before WW1, name spelling variation in Scotland was not standardized, but in the control of the recording clerk.

[Dante242]

Yes London gazette with and without the initials, I have also engaged some expert Crimea medal research experts on the British medal forum to no avail...the only hope is he was missed of the list

[Dante242]

I completely agree...a conundrum indeed, many thanks for looking, its really appreciated, regards Paul