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Mint:
London
Ruler:
Victoria (1837-1901)
Artist:
Wyon, William
Ruler:
Victoria regina
(With the title of)
Just as in 1848 the extensive land campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars and the other conflicts of the pre-Victorian era were recognised by the issue of the Military General Service Medal, those serving in the Navy at the time were recognised with the Naval General Service Medal. As with the Army equivalent and the East India Company's related award, many of the battles for which the medal was awarded had been fought so long ago that few if any claimants survived.
In addition, bars were awarded for many actions whose significance and size were, despite the heroism displayed by those involved, relatively minor. The result was that many of the bars were issued in tiny numbers, with some combinations all but unique, and the medals command a very high price among collectors because of this rarity and individuality. This in turn, along with the manufacture in most cases of more bars than were eventually issued, has led to the `improvement' of many common awards where recipients' names are shared with those present at `rarer' battles. The medal also shares with the Military General Service and Army of India Medals the oddity that Queen Victoria, whose portrait they bear, was not the ruler under whom the battles for which it was awarded were fought.
The battle that this bar commemorates was fought off Genoa, after two vessels of the French Toulon squadron had collided during a flight from the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Hotham. In the subsequent skirmishing, which included then-Captain Horatio Nelson in HMS Agamemnon, two French ships were lost for one British. The larger context of the fighting was the British control of Corsica, which such successes permitted to continue. A French attempt on Napoleon's birthplace in 1796 however succeeded, whereafter the British lost control of the Mediterranean for some years.
This medal was awarded to Private William Kingston, of the Royal Marine contingent aboard HMS Romulus; the Medal Roll records its award to a William Kingstone. Lester Watson purchased this medal from the dealer Gifford in 1928.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Gifford before 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36.3 mm
Weight: 34.76 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
1849 - 1851
Inscription present: Bust of Victoria facing left
Inscription present: Britannia with trident seated sideways on seahorse
Accession number: CM.1351-2009
Primary reference Number: 141445
Watson Catalogue: 257
Ordering: M-0234
Previous object number: LW.0234
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Naval General Service Medal (1793-1840)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141445 Accessed: 2024-12-22 16:44:54
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141445
|title=Naval General Service Medal (1793-1840)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 16:44:54|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-141445
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0234_281_29.jpg"
alt="Naval General Service Medal (1793-1840)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Naval General Service Medal (1793-1840)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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