Military General Service medal

William Wyon (1795 - 1851)

The Inniskillings Museum

1847

The Military General Service Medal (MGSM) was a retrospective award approved in 1847 for various actions from 1793 to 1814. This one was awarded to Private Bernard Martin of the 27th Inniskilling Regiment who was discharged after part of his right leg was amputated as a result of an injury at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.This particular medal is of great significance as the museum already held Martin's Waterloo medal, and very few members of the Regiment earned both medals. The MGSM is a potent reminder of the hardships of soldiering at that time - fatigue, discomfort, hardship lack of medical support and the ever-present danger of death. The designer was the first medallist to become a Royal Academician, in 1838. Purchased by the Art Fund with the assistance of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

• Medium: silver
• Dimensions: diameter: 3.6cm
• Art Fund Grant: £2750 ( Total: £2,750)
• ArtFunded in: 2006
• Vendor: Dixon's Military Medalist, Yorkshire

Provenance

Sold with photocopy of discharge papers, Muster Roll pages, MGS and Waterloo Roll pages, which also state Regimental Medal, Blamer R273; Gaskell Collection; Cresswell Whitaker Collection; Glendining (1963); Glendining (1969); Dixon's Military Medalist, Yorkshire.

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