deserving of the approbation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, although I am not enabled to make a particular statement of their merits.” For this reason the medal was never awarded to Rear-Admiral B. Caldwell, fifth in command on the great day, to his flag-captain, Captain G. B. Westcott, and to seven other captains of line of battle ships engaged. One captain however, who was not mentioned in despatches, succeeded in gaining the medal, by a tour de force eminently characteristic of the superb breed of naval officers that the great wars had brought into being. This was Collingwood, who had been flag-captain to Bowyer in the “Barfleur.” When Collingwood was awarded the medal for St Vincent, where he commanded the “Excellent,” he flatly refused to receive it unless that for the First of June was also conferred upon him, which was done. For St Vincent, the Nile and Trafalgar, all flag officers and captains engaged received the medal. At the Nile, Troubridge’s ship, the “Culloden,” grounded in entering the bay, and so, strictly speaking, he was never engaged in the action; but the king specially included him in the award, “for his services both before and since, and for the great and wonderful exertions he made at the time of the action, in saving and getting off his ship.”
For Camperdown, one captain, afterwards found guilty by court-martial of failure in duty, did not receive the medal. Several posthumous awards of the smaller medals were made to the relatives of officers who were either killed in action or died of wounds. These were: on the first of June, Captains Hutt (“Queen”), Montagu (“Montagu”), Harvey (“Brunswick”); at Camperdown, Captain Burgess (“Ardent”); at the Nile, Captain Westcott (“Majestic”); at Trafalgar, Captains Duff (“Mars”) and Cooke (“Bellerophon”). Captain Westcott was doubly unfortunate, for he was one of the First of June captains who should have received the medal but did not. Captain Miller of the “Theseus” also did not receive his medal for the Nile, for, though not killed in the action, he perished at Acre in an accidental powder explosion the May following, the medal arriving after his death, and being returned to the Admiralty. In only two cases were large medals conferred on officers below flag rank, these being Sir R. Curtis, captain of the fleet to Lord Howe on the First of June, and Nelson, who only flew a commodore’s broad pendant at St Vincent. Following this latter precedent Sir R. Strachan should have had the large medal for the action of the 4th of November 1805, for he also was a commodore, but it was denied him for what seems quite an inadequate reason, namely that he was junior in rank to Captain Hervey of the “Temeraire,” who was the senior of the Trafalgar captains. Hervey was promoted to rear-admiral for Trafalgar on the 9th of November, and Strachan to the same rank on the following day.
The small medal too was conferred in only three cases on officers below the rank of post captain. These were Commander Mounsey of the “Bonne Citoyenne,” for the capture of the “Furieuse” and Lieuts. Pilfold and Stockham, who at Trafalgar commanded respectively the “Ajax” and the “Thunderer,” the captains of those two ships being at the time of the action in England giving evidence at the court-martial of Sir Robert Calder. In all, of the eighteen awards of the Navy Gold Medal, eight were for fleet actions (one of which was between squadrons of frigates), seven for single ship actions, one between line of battleships, six in which frigates were engaged, two for shore operations (in both cases the taking of islands from the Dutch), and lastly the re-capture of the “Hermione” by the “Surprise.” This last mentioned award is one particularly memorable, not only because it was the first time that the medal was awarded to a frigate captain, but also because it is the only case in which the medal was awarded for boat service pure and simple.
Nelson’s two great victories, the Nile and Trafalgar, also earned a medal for all ranks that participated in them, but these awards were not made by the Crown but by the generosity of two private individuals, though of course with the king’s approval and permission. The first of these is “Davison’s Nile Medal,” which Mr Alexander Davison, Nelson’s prize agent and a valued friend, caused to be struck at a cost of near £2000, and one of which was presented to every officer and man engaged at the Nile. The medal, 1·85 in. in diameter, was given in gold to Nelson and his captains, in silver to lieutenants and officers of corresponding rank, in copper gilt to warrant and petty officers, and in copper bronze to seamen and marines:—
Obverse: Hope, standing on a rock in the sea, holding in her right hand an olive branch, and supporting with her left side a shield on which is the bust of Nelson surrounded by the legend: “EUROPE’S HOPE AND BRITAIN’S GLORY.” Behind the figure and shield is an anchor, whilst around all is inscribed: “REAR-ADMIRAL LORD NELSON OF THE NILE.” Reverse: The French fleet at anchor in Aboukir Bay, the British fleet advancing to the attack: a setting sun denotes the time of the action. Around: “ALMIGHTY GOD HAS BLESSED HIS MAJESTY’S ARMS”; and, in exergue: “VICTORY OF THE NILE AUGUST 1 1798.” In the reverse the engraver when sinking the die forgot to transpose the position of the objects, and so the sun is made to set in the east instead of in the west, and the land which is shown on the right should properly be on the left.
Davison’s Nile medal was struck at the Soho Mint, Birmingham, by Boulton, and it was this that probably inspired the latter to present a medal to all who took part in the battle of Trafalgar. “Boulton’s Trafalgar Medal” was 1·9 in. in diameter, and given in gold to the three admirals, in silver to captains and first-lieutenants, and in pewter to other ranks. In a very considerable number of cases the pewter medals were either returned, or thrown overboard, the recipients being disgusted at what they deemed the paltriness of the reward. Obverse: A bust of Lord Nelson in uniform with around: HORATIO, VISCOUNT NELSON, K.B. DUKE OF BRONTE, &c. Reverse: A representation of the battle, with around on a scroll: ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY. In exergue: TRAFALGAR OCTr. 21 1805.
Both the Davison and the Boulton medals were worn suspended from a blue ribbon. These are the only two cases in which officers and men of the navy and army have accepted and worn medals presented by a private individual.
The Gold Medal given by George III. to the superior officers in command at the battle of Maida, in Sicily, on the 4th of July 1806, is an award of special interest, for not only was it the first military award made by the Crown during the reign, but it was moreover the prototype of the superb army gold medals and crosses which were so widely distributed during the years that followed. A general order of the duke of York, commander-in-chief, dated Horse Guards, 22nd of February 1808, awarded a gold medal for Maida to Sir John Stuart, K.B., his three brigadiers, and nine other officers. Subsequently four other officers received it, so in all seventeen officers received the award. It was prescribed that the medal “should be worn suspended by a Ribband of the colour of the Sash, with a blue edge, from a button of the coat on the left side.” It was in fact to be worn in the same way as the small Navy Gold Medal, and as this grant established blue and white as the specific navy ribbon, so did the Maida award establish red with a blue border as the regulation military ribbon. The Maida ribbon is in fact precisely the same as the Waterloo ribbon shown in Plate I. The Maida medal was 1·5 in. in diameter and struck in gold only. It was issued precisely alike, quite irrespective of rank, to each of its seventeen recipients.
Obverse: Head of George III., laureated and facing left, with below the legend: GEORGIUS TERTIUS REX. Reverse: Britannia casting a spear with her right hand, and on her left arm the Union shield, above, and approaching her is a Flying Victory holding out a wreath. In front of Britannia in four lines, is MAI/DA/IVL IV/MDCCCVI/; behind her the triquetra or trinacria, the symbol of the Island of Sicily. In the exergue are crossed spears.
Two and a half years after the Maida award the king authorized the “Army Gold Medal,” the first grant of which was notified by the commander-in-chief, in a Horse Guards general order dated the 9th of September 1810. This authorized the bestowal of the medal on 107 senior officers mentioned by name. The battles commemorated were Roleia, Vimiera (1808), the cavalry actions of Sahagun and Benevente (1808), Corunna and Talavera (1809). The Army Gold Medal so awarded was in two sizes, large, 2·1 in. in diameter, for general officers, small, 1·3 in. in diameter, for officers of lower rank: and the regulations provided that it should be worn from a red ribbon edged with blue, the larger round the neck, the smaller on the left breast from a button-hole of the uniform. The ribbon was the same width, 134 for both ribbons, and precisely the same later on for the Gold Cross. Both large and small medals were of identical design, in fact there was no difference, either in medals or in ribbons, except in size and the style in which they were worn:—
Obverse: Britannia seated on a globe, holding in her right hand a laurel wreath, and in her left, which rests upon a Union shield resting against the globe, a palm leaf; at her feet to her right, a lion. Reverse: A wreath of laurel, encircling the name of the battle or operations for which the medal was granted.
In the following years subsequent orders similar to the original grant extended the award of the Army Gold Medal, until eventually twenty-four distinct awards were made, commemorating twenty-six actions, or series of operations, which took place not only in the Peninsula, but also in North America, and both the East and the West Indies.
The Peninsula medals were for Roleia and Vimiera, Sahagun and Benevente, Corunna, Talavera, Busaco, Barrosa, Fuentes d’Onor, Albuera, Ciudad Rodrigo (1812), Badajoz (1812),
