Help identifying medals

[JWK6]

Hi,

Could anyone please help me identify (even roughly) the medals in this fragment of an old picture. I'm trying to identify the man in the pic. It was taken in Mayo, Ireland in the late 1800s. The man wearing the medals looks between 65 and 80 years old at the time of photo, so the medals must have been for service before (say) 1880. They are probably British Army medals but I just don't know so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
James

*Moderator comment:  image changed from PDF to JPG to allow online viewing *

[km1971]

Hi James

The most noticeable is the star, which will be the Khedive's Star. It came with a British Egypt medal. There were several campaigns in the 1880s in Egypt, and also the attempt to relieve Khartoum in the Sudan, and you should google the history of these places

The easiest thing to do would be to look for him on the pre-WW1 medal rolls on Ancestry.

= http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/britishguide/egypt_1882.htm

There was also a star issued in 1893 without an equivalent British medal. But that had a clasp on the ribbon – which this one appears to lack.


Ken

[neil1821]

That's an impressive looking array of medals!
Sadly identification isn't helped by him wearing them in apparently random order (as you see sometimes with veterans in photos of this era). But there are certain things that can be said.

Medal 2 from the left is definitely the Khedive's Star as Ken says. This offers your best chance of pinning him down from a medal roll. The British Egypt Medal must be either medal 1 or medal 4 (again from the left) as it must have a straight suspender. I'd go for medal 1 as it seems to have a clasp of the correct thickness.

[neil1821]

Medal 3 - an ornate suspender and maybe the hint of a clasp?
Medal 4 - straight suspender and 1 thin clasp
Medal 5 - ornate suspender and 1 clasp?
Medal 6 - ring suspender
Medal 7 below - ring suspender

By looking either side of the Egypt campaign (probably prior to considering his age) we may be able to make educated guesses

[crimea1854]

The one in the middle, on the right-hand, side looks to be a Crimea Medal with a Turkish Crimea beneath it. I would say that the one on the extreme right is the RN Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, but the suspension is wrong.

Any chance of a name?

Martin

[JWK6]

Hi and many thanks for your posts. I had suspected one of them was the Khedive's Star but I'm not sure where to start looking from there. I don't know who the man was, only that the photo was taken by a local photographer here in westport, co.mayo. It has been in the family probably since it was taken and I know that one of the man's daughters in the photo also appears in another photo we have which was taken around the same time. I don't know anyone in that pic either! And to compound things, the medal rolls for pre-WWI don't include birth place. So I can't search by place and match an age to the face etc.. Is there any other class of Army/Navy record where I might narrow things down a bit? Any more help would be very much appreciated!
James

[crimea1854]

A name would really help!!!

[JWK6]

Yes, unfortunately I don't have a name for him. He could be from any of about 15 different branches of my family or he could be just someone from westport who my family knew. It's a tough one.......!