Can you help identify these medals?

score:37

Accepted answer

These are World War One medals. This specific set is typical and is called affectionately Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, after the then popular cartoon.

The first from the left is the

1914–15 Star

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In the middle we see

British War Medal

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And to the right

Victory Medal (United Kingdom) 1914–1919

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All three have the recipients name, rank and service number impressed on them. The later two (Squeak and Wilfred) on the rim, the first one, Star (Pip) on its backside. Here, it seems that it corroded some(*), but it appears the number is still legible as is. If that stain can be removed, the info of ownership should be very easy to confirm. The number seems still perfectly discernible, albeit too low a resolution in the picture provided above (is it [XX]9802?).

With that info you then might get much more info on for example British Army medal index cards 1914–1920. (this paragraph: thanks to @njuffa in comments).

Further information on abbreviations used on British Empire World War I medals.

From comments by QOP we see that the Star backside is said to read "J.6602".

In that case one might be lead to entries like this:

Medal card of Smith, Henry J
Corps: Norfolk Regiment Regiment No: 6602 ...
Reference: WO 372/18/148746
Description:
Medal card of Smith, Henry J Corps Regiment No Rank Norfolk Regiment 6602 Lance Corporal Date: 1914-1920 Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description

(*) If this is indeed corrosion of the Bronze Disease type and you want to keep the artefact, then (at least) storage under tight humidity control seems advised.

Upvote:4

Bit late but a followup on identification:

The medals were awarded to J.6602 E.F CHAPMAN A.B R.N. This will indicate an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy - it turns out his personal records survive at the National Archives (register of service ADM 188/660/6602, record card ADM 363/294/114) and copies of both can be downloaded for free.

The register of service seems to indicate he enlisted in 1910 as a boy seaman (on his 16th birthday). It will be possible to reconstruct his service by working through the ship names and dates, though note that many of them are shore postings - eg at the outbreak of WWI he was posted to HMS Vernon, the name for the torpedo school at Portsmouth - and interestingly several are submarine depot ships.

He remained in service after the war - the register runs up to 1928 and then the record card takes over. He was promoted to Leading Seaman in 1918, Petty Officer in 1925, and pensioned after 24 years service in 1934. He was then recalled in 1939 and discharged in 1945; he seems to have spent WWII entirely at HMS Eaglet, a shore base in Liverpool. This suggests there might be a WWII service medal knocking around as well, but perhaps these were set aside long before it was issued.

Remarkably, his father's Army service records may also survive - Ancestry. Enlisted 1879, born Toronto (!), and the third page records a son Ernest Frank Chapman born 27/1/1894 in Dublin, exactly matching the naval records.

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