Canada General Service Medal | |
---|---|
Type | Campaign medal |
Awarded for | Campaign service. |
Description | Silver disk 36 mm wide |
Presented by | Canada United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
Eligibility | Imperial and Canadian forces |
Clasps |
|
Established | 1 January 1899 [1] |
Total | 17,623 [2] |
Ribbon: 32mm: Three equal stripes of red-white-red |
The Canada General Service Medal was a campaign medal awarded by the Canadian Government [3] to both Imperial and Canadian forces for duties related to the Fenian raids between 1866 and 1871. [4] The medal was initially issued in 1899 and had to be applied for. [5] The application period was later extended to 1907, then to 1928. [3]
With late applications, 17,623 medals were awarded, [2] including 15,300 to members of Canadian units. [5]
The medal, 1.4 inches (36 mm) in diameter, is silver and has a plain straight swivel suspender. [3] The obverse bears the head of Queen Victoria with the legend VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX, while the reverse depicts the ensign of Canada surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves with the word CANADA above. [5]
The recipient's name, rank and unit appear on the rim of the medal. A number of different impressed and engraved styles were used, reflecting that the medal was awarded over a long period of time. [3]
The 1.25 inches (32 mm) wide ribbon consists of three equal stripes of red, white and red. In 1943 the same ribbon was adopted for the Canada Medal. [6]
The medal was always awarded with a clasp, with 12 medals awarded with all three clasps. [2] The number of clasps indicated below includes those that appear on multi-clasp medals.
The World War I Victory Medal was a United States service medal designed by James Earle Fraser of New York City under the direction of the Commission of Fine Arts.
The American Defense Service Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces, established by Executive Order 8808, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on June 28, 1941. The medal was intended to recognize those military service members who had served on active duty between September 8, 1939, and December 7, 1941.
The Fenian raids were a series of incursions carried out by the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish republican organization based in the United States, on military fortifications, customs posts and other targets in Canada in 1866, and again from 1870 to 1871. A number of separate incursions by the Fenian Brotherhood into Canada were undertaken to bring pressure on the British government to withdraw from Ireland, although none of these raids achieved their aims.
The Battle of Ridgeway was fought in the vicinity of the town of Fort Erie across the Niagara River from Buffalo, New York, near the village of Ridgeway, Canada West, currently Ontario, Canada, on June 2, 1866, between Canadian troops and an irregular army of Irish-American invaders, the Fenians. It was the largest engagement of the Fenian Raids, the first modern industrial-era battle to be fought by Canadians and the first to be fought only by Canadian troops and led exclusively by Canadian officers. The battlefield was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1921 and is the last battle fought within the current boundaries of Ontario against a foreign invasion. The action at Ridgeway has the distinction of being the only armed victory for the cause of Irish independence between the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the Easter Rising in 1916.
The Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) was a campaign medal approved in 1847, and issued to officers and men of the Royal Navy in 1849. The final date for submitting claims was 1 May 1851. Admiral Thomas Bladen Capel was one of the members of the board that authorised the medal.
The Military General Service Medal (MGSM) was a campaign medal approved in 1847 and issued to officers and men of the British Army in 1848.
The India General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved on 1 March 1854, for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies. It was awarded for various minor military campaigns in India and nearby countries, between 1852 and 1895.
The Army of India Medal (AIM) was a campaign medal approved in 1851 for issue to officers and men of the British Army and the Army of the Honourable East India Company. A retrospective award following the precedent set by the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal, it served to reward service in various actions from 1803 to 1826.
The Cape of Good Hope General Service Medal is a British campaign medal which was awarded to members of the Cape Colonial Forces who took part in three campaigns in and around the Cape of Good Hope, in Basutoland in 1880–1881, in Transkei in 1880–1881 and in Bechuanaland in 1896–1897.
The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps were awarded, to indicate participation in particular actions and campaigns.
The India Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1896 for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies.
The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the Auxiliary Military Forces, was instituted in 1930 for award to part-time officers after twenty years of service as an efficient and thoroughly capable officer. The decoration superseded the Volunteer Officers' Decoration, the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration and the Territorial Decoration.
The East and Central Africa Medal, established in February 1899, was a British campaign medal awarded for minor military operations in the Uganda Protectorate and Southern Sudan between 1897 and 1899. Four separate clasps were issued.
The New Zealand War Medal was a campaign medal authorised in 1869 to be awarded to Imperial and Colonial troops involved in the New Zealand Wars of 1845–47 and 1860–66. The New Zealand Wars were previously known as the Māori Wars, Anglo-Māori Wars or Land Wars.
The Victoria Rifles of Canada was an infantry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia and later the Canadian Army. First formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1862, the regiment would see a history of service stretching from the Fenian Raids of the 1860s-70s right into the middle of the 20th Century. In 1965, the regiment was reduced to nil strength and transferred to the Supplementary Order of Battle.
The Army Gold Medal (1808–1814), also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field and general officers' successful commands in campaigns, predominantly the Peninsular War. It was not a general medal, since it was issued only to officers whose status was no less than that of battalion commander or equivalent.
The Transport Medal was a British campaign medal sanctioned on 8 November 1903 and awarded by the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty. It was awarded to masters and officers of merchant ships employed by the Transport Service to move troops to either South Africa during the South African War or to China during the Boxer Rebellion. The officers of hospital ships also qualified.
The North West Canada Medal is a British campaign medal issued to the soldiers, volunteers, and North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) personnel who participated in putting down the North-West Rebellion in 1885.
The Central Africa Medal was a British campaign medal awarded for service from 1891 to 1894 in Eastern and Central Africa, and from 1894 to 1898 for service in British Central Africa.
A Police Jubilee Medal was awarded to those on duty at Queen Victoria's Golden and Diamond Jubilee celebrations.