THE ROMANCE OF MILITARY INSIGNIA 



471 



class who participated in the battles of 

 St. Vincent, Camperdown, the Nile, Tra- 

 falgar, and other famous naval victories 

 between 1794 and 1815; to battalion and 

 higher commanders in the Battle of 

 Maida, 1806; and finally the Peninsula 

 gold medal of 1810, given to higher offi- 

 cers who took part in the victories in 

 Spain during 1808 and 1809. 



THE ORIGIN OF CLASPS WITH MEDALS 



The Peninsula medal is worthy of 

 further comment, as it established an- 

 other precedent, just adopted by the 

 United States — the system of clasps. As 

 first authorized, a medal was given for 

 each battle, all being the same, except 

 that the name of the battle was on the 

 reverse. The authorization was gradu- 

 ally extended to include the entire Penin- 

 sula war, and the number of medals pos- 

 sessed by some of the officers became so 

 large that in 181 3 it was directed that 

 one medal only should be worn by each 

 officer, and that for each other battle a 

 bar bearing the name of the battle should 

 be placed on the ribbon of the medal. 



The number of these bars (or clasps, 

 as they are now called) was limited to 

 two, and as one engagement was inscribed 

 on the medal this was equivalent to three 

 battles. 



When an officer had been present in 

 four battles the medal was replaced by 

 a gold cross having the names of the four 

 battles thereon, one on each arm of the 

 cross, and subsequent engagements were 

 again shown by clasps placed on the rib- 

 bon of the cross. 



This is the origin of the system of 

 clasps which has been in use by the 

 British since that time and which we 

 have just adopted in the case of the Vic- 

 tory Medal. 



The East India Company continued its 

 practice, giving a silver medal to the 

 native troops of the campaign of 1795-6 

 which captured Ceylon ; to its troops 

 who took part in the Battle of Alexandria 

 against the French in 1801, and to those 

 who took part in the capture of Tava in 

 1811. 



Still the British Government did noth- 

 ing for the rank and file, and private in- 

 dividuals began to bestow medals. Thus 

 General Eliot, the commander at Gibra 



tar, personally gave a medal to all the 

 members of the Hanoverian brigade who 

 took part in the famous defense of that 

 fortress, 1779-82; the British troops got 

 nothing. 



In 1798 a Mr. Davison, friend of 

 Nelson, presented medals to every officer, 

 seaman, and marine in the Battle of the 

 Nile. Admirals and captains received a 

 gold medal, lieutenants and warrant offi- 

 cers one in silver, and the men one in 

 bronze. They were worn from a blue 

 ribbon around the neck. This was fol- 

 lowed by a similar presentation on the 

 part of a Mr. Boulton to all who took 

 part in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. 

 This was worn from a dark-blue ribbon. 



WATERLOO INAUGURATED A UNIVERSAL 

 PRACTICE 



Notwithstanding these examples, it 

 was not till Waterloo that the British 

 Government returned to the Dunbar 

 precedent. In 1816 the Waterloo Medal 

 was authorized "to be conferred upon 

 every officer, non-commissioned officer, 

 and soldier present upon that memorable 

 occasion," and this definitely inaugurated 

 the present custom of granting the same 

 medal to officers and men alike, which 

 has been followed by the British since 

 that time and has now spread to all the 

 nations of the world. It is truly a uni- 

 versal custom ; so it is hoped that this 

 survey of its development will not be 

 amiss. 



In later years the British tried to rem- 

 edy the results of previous neglect by 

 authorizing medals for campaigns prior 

 to Waterloo, the most notable of these 

 being the Peninsula Medal, given to all 

 the survivors of the engagements between 

 1793 and 1814, including not only those 

 in the Peninsula War, but also in Egypt 

 and the West Indies. However, as this 

 was not done until 1848, the survivors 

 were not very numerous. There were 28 

 clasps with this medal, 15 being the great- 

 est number awarded to one man. 



FIRST AMERICAN M KDAL GIVEN TO 

 WASH [NGTON 



The British Navy General Service 

 Medal of 1847, issued to all who saw- 

 service in the naval engagements between 

 1- 1793 and 181 5, is remarkable in the mini- 



