Help with identifying a medal

[Nirvana]

My uncle (William Thomas Blakeney) served for a period of time on HMS Agamamnon during WWI. ( as well as other ships , until demob in 1922. The only photo I have of him is very dark and details not clear. However I can just make out a ribbon under left side of collar hanging from it looks like a ship's wheel with a crown over.
He left the service as a Petty Officer, ( age 31) having joined as a boy sailor at 16 yrs old. Can anyone tell me about this decoration , please?

[Melv.]

Mmm! difficult to give any advice without more detail of what colour ribbon is shown or medal detail.
If he served on active service during WW1 than he would have had more medals than just the one displayed.
Naval long service and good conduct medal was awarded after 15 years service from the age of 17-1/2 so if he left at age 31 it is possible it is not that one.
I presume he was possibly on a 12 year standard engagement for the time and service would have counted from age 18 years as he joined up as a boy seaman at 16.
Try for more detail of the medal if possible.

My best guess is that,according to your description, is that it is the 1914-1918 star medal.
You can always find out precise information if you contact Navy Personnel Records Office.

[Nirvana]

Thanks for your prompt reply, i'll follow up your suggestion.

[tomsam]

Hi,Just came across this post by chance.If as you say the photo is very dark and old, maybe, just maybe, your uncle was a "chief" petty officer and maybe the "medal" is "on" the jacket collar. If it is ,then it is a badge of rank of a coxwain not a medal . the branch badge (the ships wheel) with a crown above it signifies that he has attained certain grades in his specialist qualification. One star ,two stars ,crown and then crown star.
These are just possibilities and maybe it helps
Regards

[stontamar]

Hi Nivarna

If the man n the photograph is dressed as a Petty Officer his non-substantive badge would not be attached to his collar and additionally the ships wheel with crown non-substantive badge was not introduced until 1948. This badge on introduction was worn by Quartermaster’s 1st Class and Quartermaster’s rated as Chief Petty Officers. The dates and rate appear to be wrong for this to be a positive identification of the medal or badge.

As mentioned previously if this medal is the 1914 or 1914/15 Star it should not be worn by itself, it should normally be accompanied by at least two other medals. Having said that I know, for example, that the 1914 Star was ready for issue, to those in the Royal Navy and Reserves that were entitled to its issue, in January 1919 and for a short period of time it could very well have been worn by itself before the issue of the other two medals reached individuals serving in the Fleet.. I am not suggesting that your uncle would have been entitled to the 1914 Star, this is extremely unlikely, but the same conditions may have applied to the 1914/15 Star to which he most certainly would have been entitled to if he was enlisted before 1914 and served at sea at any time from the declaration of war in August 1914 through to December 1915.

If your uncle is the William Thomas Blakeney, whose official number was J6725 (Seaman or Communications rating) born in Margate, Kent on 6 May 1893, the following dates must be relevant. Having enlisted aged 16 and left the Navy in 1922, he would have entered the Navy in 1909/10 and left before completing his 12-year engagement. The 12 years would have started from the date of his 18th birthday and as he would have been 18 on 6 May 1911 his 12-year engagement would not have completed until 6 May 1923. Under these circumstances he would not have met the qualifying criteria for issue of the Long Service and Good Conduct medal.

If the rating with the service number J6725 is not your uncle I have been unable to find any other service records for a Blakeney whose date of birth was between 1889 and 1893.

There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in this thread and it It would be good if you could post a copy of the photograph on this forum and provide any additional details of your uncle that you may have.

Regards

stontamar

[herakles]

Considering the interest and enthusiasm that exists today for collecting war medals, it should be quite easy to identify the medal unless the photograph quality is too poor. There are many traders of medals and a host of books on medals and the web abounds with information on them.

A query to Google on the 1914 star returned over 60,000 hits!