Russian & French Medals - WWI

[Mountainman]

Hi Everyone,

I have just come across my GGrandfather Ernest King's WWI medals. Along with his British medals I was surprised to find a Russian medal along with a couple of old Russian coins and a rather nice presentation case containing a French "badge".

The Russian medal has the head of the Czar on one side and on the reverse the following:

3A
XPAbPOCTb
78298
4 CTETT

or as close as I can get to the cyrillic script.

Has anybody any ideas what this medal was for? As far as I know he did not fight on the Russian front - but I have to admit I know very little about him.

The French badge has the head of Marianne in relief. This is surrounded by the text "Conseil General Aisne" This is surrounded by star flashes and Fasces with hands on the ends.

The presentation box says "Rubans et Croix d'Ordre, Fayolle, Palais Royal Paris."

My GGrandfather came from Newcastle- Under-Lyme, so perhaps he was in one of the Staffordshire regiments. I understand he fought in France and was gassed there, but that is all I know.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Best regards,

David

[neil1821]

за храбрость is Russian for "for bravery"

So is this medal a standard shape (ie a round disc?)
Is it silver, bronze or some other material?
What about the ribbon, what colours, pattern etc?

Neil

Edit - would it be the St. Georges Medal by any chance, as illustrated here?
http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/a_foreign_russian

"4 CTETT" would then mean 4th Class, 78298 being the award registration number

[neil1821]

My GGrandfather came from Newcastle- Under-Lyme, so perhaps he was in one of the Staffordshire regiments.

If you look at his British medals, they'll tell you his unit, together with his name, rank & number.
If you can tell us what they say, with that lead we should be able to find more about his Russian award.

[Mountainman]

Thanks for those prompt replies!

The Russian medal looks to be the St. George Medal.

And although there are no ribbons on the GB medals, thanks to you I have had a closer look and on the edge of the medals I can see 101012 SPR  E King RE - which I assume puts him in the Royal Engineers? (What does SPR stand for?)

With the reference from the Russian medal would I be able to trace something to the London Gazette and if so how??

Any thoughts on the French decoration?

Many thanks for your help.

DAvid

[harribobs]

PHEW!!!....never knew you spoke Russian Neil!! 

Yep, RE is Royal Engineers and SPR = Sapper

[neil1821]

PHEW!!!....never knew you spoke Russian Neil!!

Man of many talents!   
Seriously though, I don't exactly speak Russian. I can read it and I have a schoolboy level of vocab and that's about it.

David, based on the examples of those Worcs Regt soldiers, I'd say his Russian award should be in the London Gazette. Finding it though is another matter, personally I often have trouble finding entries. The search engine is rubbish (in my humble opinion)

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/index.asp?webType=0

[seamike]

Hi David,

According to the number of the medal 78298 -  it should be like this one.
The Medal for Bravery of 4 th Class with the number 165078 was awarded to Corporal Alexander Godsman, 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry on 25/08/1915, so "yours" medal was awarded earlier.

Medal for Bravery was established at first during the reign of Tsar Alexander I in 1807. During the reign of Alexander II the medal got 4 classes and was intended mainly for decoration of border guard rankings. In the first years of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the Medal for Bravery was thoroughly redesigned and its statute changed.

The obverse of the silver Medal for Bravery shows the truncated bust of Tsar Nicholas II facing left encircled by an inscription  "By the Grace of God Nicholas II Emperor and Autocrat of All Russias". The reverse of the Medal bears an inscription "For Bravery, Fourth Class, No. ******".
From 01/01/1914 till 01/01/1917 1335150 medals of 4th class were stamped (numbers 1-1333100).
metal: silver (medals of 1st and 2nd class were of gold)
diameter: 28 mm
ribbon: St. George

Mike

[seamike]

The details of the person awarded should be on the edge of the medal: