Albert Medal

[David Cochrane]

As I've already put up info on the GC and AC, I figure that perhaps the most notable of the GC's predecessor decorations also deserves a spot on this website.

I have not transcribed all of the citations (and a pdf compilation of the original Gazettes is way too big to upload here), but here are all of the Albert Medals from the period of the Second World War.

A few points of note:
Of the 45 Albert Medals awarded during this time, 31 were to Navy personnel, 10 to Merchant mariners and four to civilians.

Three were in Gold - SBA Beeching (posthumous), Surg-Lt Clow, and SBA Fanconi (posthumous) - and 42 in Bronze (24 posthumously).

Most of the awards came early in the War - 32 by the end of 1942, and none at all in 1945.

Even after the George Cross had been instituted, the Albert Medal continued alongside it until 1949, when it effectively became a posthumous George Medal. Looking at the actions rewarded with the AM, one can see a bit of a void in the GCs being filled - actions taken on sinking ships or to save people in the water were rarely rewarded with the GC during the War as the AM was still the primary way of rewarding that. (One wonders if AC1 Gillett and RO Broadfoot would have received the AM instead of the GC if it had still been around in the 1950s.)

AM Citations 1940-1945.pdf (123.97 KB)

[anthony]

Well done David. The last citation dated 17 July 1945 reads:

Stoker Second Class Charles Alexander PETHEBRIDGE, R.A.N.R., W.2164.
For gallantry in saving life at sea at the cost of his own. When the ship on which he was a passenger was torpedoed, Stoker Pethebridge got away with twenty others on a raft. During the ordeal which followed Pethebridge left this raft on several occasions, without a life-belt, to go to the help of those who through physical weaknesses could not prevent themselves from slipping into the sea. The strain of this merciful work upon himself was such that he could not carry on, and during the night which followed the sinking of the ship, he himself disappeared.

The citation is accurate but with the war still being fought Pethebridge is described as a passenger not as a survivor of the sinking of HMAS Perth who was being shipped with more than 1250 other POWS to slave labour camps in Japan. About 100 survived with many picked up by US submarines which is why the story was known before the war ended. See www.navy.gov.au/biography/charles-pethebridge

[David Cochrane]

Figures for the First World War:

Gold - 23 (43% posthumous)
Bronze - 162 (15% posthumous)
Total - 185 (18% posthumous)

Military - 155 (17% posthumous)
Police/Fire - 2 (0% posthumous)
Merchant Navy - 15 (27% posthumous)
Civilian - 13 (31% posthumous)

Unlike the Second World War, most of these were won late in the conflict - almost two thirds in 1917 & 1918. One of the awards (Mech Marshall) wasn't gazetted, but transcripts from the rest will find their way here at some point.

[anthony]

WW2 – 45 awards - 3 Gold 7% and 42 Bronze 93%
WW1 – 186 awards - 23 Gold is 12% and 162 Bronze is 88%

Abbott and Tamplin in British Gallantry Awards give totals of all awards:
568 awards – 70 Gold is 12% and 498 Bronze is 88%
This exactly matches the % for First World War awards.

For the period 1920—1939 which is the EGM period

64 awards – 2 Gold is 3% and 62 Bronze is 97%

[David Cochrane]

Here are the WWI citations, in order of Gazette. The first award wasn't announced in the Gazette, and the citation is taken from Heroes of the Albert Medal - the date is the date of approval.

I've also done some editing, mostly on the order of correcting a few dates. I'm also sure that I let plenty of mistakes through too (and created a ton more in the copying!)

WWI AM Citations.pdf (311.18 KB)