War Medals

[RRTB]

I was hunting about online to see if I could unearth something about the G26 bit. One of the sites (britisharmymedals.blogspot.com) has a number of listings from G1 onwards, which are under the heading "Groups". Perhaps that is all that the G26 means here: the BWM and the VM were a group under the name of M. Bowes?

RRTB

[MaxD]

RRTB - Groups is a collectors term for a "set" of medals belonging to the same person so I don't think has relevance here, although I may be wrong!

Selby - Forgive me, I don't think I really clicked that you actually have three medals rather than just records.  Am I correct that the details you posted first are the inscriptions around the edge of the medals?  Is it at all possible that the G26 is an erosion of his number 5026? I ask this as there is something wrong with the 47-LON-R - there wasn't a 47 London Regt -  which makes me wonder whether the regiment's number has also become disfigured on that medal?

As to how come he (or a younger Martin Bowes) then earned a Mercantile Marine Medal - I'm afraid I now come to the conclusion that your guess is as good as mine/ours!

maxD

[mmm45]

SWB roll....Western Front Association have Pension records. There is a charge but it may have other info.

Ady

[Selby]

Hello again Max, I haven't seen the medals but a member of the Bowes family has them and she sent me the information... She might have mistakenly put 47 (I thought so). I'll have to check back with her re the G26, although she said that both of the medals had G26 on them??  The third medal is the Merchant Navy one, with his name on it  .

mmm45, thank you, I'll have a look!

Selby

[MaxD]

mmm454 - yes that's right, he also had a SWB for his short service in France in 1916.

I also checked that his Merchant Navy medal record shows that his Defence Medal was issued by the army so they are certainly all his.

maxD

[Selby]

I've just found the following online:

1/17th (County of London) Battalion (Poplar and Stepney Rifles)
August 1914 : at 66 Tredegar Road, Bow. Part of 5th London Brigade, 2nd London Division. Moved on mobilisation to St Albans.
10 March 1915 : landed at Le Havre.
11 May 1915 : formation became 141st Brigade in 47th (2nd London) Division.
1 February 1918 : transferred to 140th Brigade in same Division.

Could that be why Martin had one medal with 17-LOND-R and one with 47-LOND-R

Just asking  lol.

Selby

[MaxD]

Mistakes in engraving were not unknown and the the fact that the Division his unit belonged to in part of the war was 47 Div does look persuasive but for the engraving to have been deliberate there would have to have been at least two errors:
 it was the practice for the man's unit, and in the case of the infantry that would mean his battalion, to be engraved and the "R" at the end means Regiment not Division.  The contractor would have had a list of 17th Bn men in front of him, the fact that the Bn belonged to 47 Div for part of the war is just coincidence IMHO. 

Of course the chap engraving the medal would have had a stamp for each number from 0 to 9 in front of him and who is to say that he picked up the 4 instead of the 1 - maybe it was Friday afternoon!

I'd love to see a pic of the offending engraving!

maxD