dpk

Thank you, Dave for your succinct critique. I would be pleased if you could advise details of the reference you quote from above- was it an official release from the Metropolitan police, or an academic text or research paper? One thing I note in your example Star is that the top of the letters of 'Metropolitan', '1914' and the central 'SC', and the surrounding edge of the circle appear to have been ground flat compared to the plain Star badge, as if to re-expose the silver metal after application of the blue material. That may well be a common manufacturing practice, but I haven't seen it before and it appears to differ from the way the blue enamel was applied and finished in the enamelled Metropolitan police cap badge of the same era. I take your point from the reference you quote, that only 'Inspector and above' received the blue enamelled Star. I assume that means there were a number of Inspectors and also numbers of others in the ranks above who all received a blue enamelled Star. In contrast, when the various enamelled cap badges were issued, they each bore a different colour depending on the rank of the recipient. Therefore I perhaps wrongly assumed that the same concept would apply to a similar rank-based distinction in the Stars. Lastly, I am not sure of the numbers of men in 'Inspector or above' positions but I again assume there would have been enough to ensure that other examples of this enamelled Star would have been issued and survived to be seen by later collectors, which at least four with over 80 years combined experience have not. I do of course recognise that you have indeed located one, and well done in doing so. All of my above observations, possibly erroneous of course, indicate to me your blue-filled star may have been a one-off adaptation by the recipient after issue. However I am hopeful that the source of the quote you provide above will have the credibility to show this interesting and rare Star was indeed an official issue- in which case I will of course acknowledge the fact and become a very keen seeker of such an example! All the very best, and I look forward to your advice. David

Hi Dave, Fantastic! Very glad to see it- it opens up a whole new avenue of collecting/research. I have sought opinions from 4 other long-standing police medal/badge collectors on the 'enamelled stars' and all have never heard of them or seen any either. One possibility they raised was that it may have been a private adornment added to the star by the recipient, to match the known enamelled cap badges (eg, Inspector was blue, sergeant yellow, and there were about 4 other colours for different ranks). I will keep on looking for other examples, but as the 4 experts and I have never seen them anywhere else I tend to agree it was a private adaptation rather than an official issue. If official, I would have expected to see others, especially to the more common rank of Sergeant (yellow). Thanks again, and if you have any more info I would be pleased to learn!! Best regards David

After discussions with 4 very well regarded UK police medal and badge collectors, the common opinion was that this enamelled star did not exist but was probably a mistaken theory that as the Metropolitan cap badges had coloured enamel in the crown to represent ranks of the wearer, that same concept would have been applied to the Silver Stars, which it seems it was not. I am sorry to have sparked this thread, but I was enthusiastic that if it was correct, I had a lot of Silver Stars to add to my collection!

Based on the description of the 'Inspector's Star' above, presume it would look like this:

Hoping for some further information here! Dave Wilkinson, in a long-ago post gave the following information about the commonly seen 1914 Metpol silver star (pictured): ''These stars were awarded to those who had presented themselves for attestation in the Metropolitan Special Constabulary BEFORE midnight on 31st December 1914. They were worn on the left forearm only. For those ranks of Inspector and above the "ring" surrounding the centre and the centre itself was enamelled dark blue with the wording "Metropolitan 1914" and the inter twined "SC" centre showing in relief.' Most of us have seen these stars for sale here and there. However, I have never seen one with blue enamel, and am keen to get pics, and even acquire one. I know that the Metpol SC bronze cap badge had various colour enamels in the King's crown centre, and dark blue is said to be colour for an Inspector (as pictured, image courtesy of Trevor Finbow) which coincideds with the above info re the Star as well. Any info most welcome.

I knew Bill Fanderlinden- he was a friendly, unpretentious sort of bloke who was the unfortunate prosecutor in a controversial case which landed on his desk. He told the truth about the state of the 'drunk' prisoner and would not prosecute the man he had seen as sober when brought in. He did suffer from senior attempts at revenge and his reputation was 'tainted' by rumour and innuendo for years. As the story shows, he was eventually ackowledged as being honest and truthful, and the medal was a small reward for a lot of heartache.

An extremely impressive, and rare (probably unique) group to a notable police officer. I think Deelibob is correct in leaving them as mounted rather than remount in the 'order of wear' priority. It probably indicates what the recipient/family thought was important rather than what a government department decreed was a certain hierarchy of medal importance- which as we know can change by the stroke of a bureaucratic pen at any time! Great group with immensely good history and information- just love them!

Just for the record, I am a collector of British and British Colonial/Dominion medals to police officers with a main focus of those medals and awards issued by the Local Authorities of the UK. These are the medals awarded by the County, Borough and City police forces of the UK, mostly prior to the initiation of the national Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal in 1951, but some of which continued to exist. There are even a few of these 'local' medals which were inititaed after 1951. Any one interested in discussing a swap/sale of such medals are most welcome to contact me- here or at dpk@iinet.net.au. couple of typical examples pics attached. Best regards, David.

Earlier in this thread, a question was asked 'Are there any other types of Constable besides police Constables?' I am not sure how the Admiralty, War Department etc police were engaged and classified but they had the title Constable. Also the small number of Cathedral Constables who are appointed by the Cathedral Constables Association rather than by a Watch Committee or Force (as I understand it). They even have their own long service medal:

Hi Gordon, I haven't seen this naming style before but if you see one for sale please let me know- my next focus is on GSM's named to police officers. There seem to be quite a few for the Colonial Police Forces which would be an interesting collection. David

Seeking to acquire a mountable length of two UK Police medal ribbons- 1. Grimsby County Borough Police Good Service Medal; 2. Plymouth City Police Conspicuous Bravery & Good Service Medal. Images for each are shown. Prefer original piece of ribbon but any good quality replica also considered. Happy to discuss purchase price if you have some! DM or Email dpk@iinet.net.au

From a police medal collectors point of view, a police group containing the Rhodesia Medal, or such a medal named to a police officer would be a very desirable addition!!

Slightly off topic, but re the 1911 Coronation Police (County & Borough) medal naming- I have been told by a very reliable source that these medal were issued unnamed to those Forces involved in the Coronation ceremonies. Some Forces awarded them to their recipient in the same condition- unnamed. However a few Forces took the trouble to name the medals they were awarding to their officers, Birmingham City Police being one of those. A large majority of these medals seen on the market are unnamed, but the occasional named medal does turn up. Does anyone know which other Forces named their medals before issue?

Hi dpast32- Your Birmingham reference source came up trumps- I now have some extensive documentation about my 1911 medal man Evan Morgan. Born 1849 in Wales, joined the Birmingham City Police in 1877 aged 28, rapidly promoted in his early career to become the force Chief Clerk at the rank of Superintendent. Awarded the 1911 Coronation County & Borough medal in 1912, died (not sure if retired or not) in 1918 aged 69 years. Many thanks!

Thank you dpast- great resource re Birmingham. I have Ancestry so will use this a lot! Any other sources like this that you find, please let me know. Best regards dpk

On sale at the Orders & Medals Research Society website- in their 'Shop- Publications' area. Best book out there on the SC LS Medal. BTW- Dpast- I am in Australia but recently acquired a 1911 Coronation 'County & Borough' Medal named to Evan Morgan. Superintendent in the Birmingham City Police. The record you posted above is excellent- could you advise how to obtain that information & copies etc as shown above?

Hi All, Attached is an old reference doc I found while researching Special Constabulary medals for my book 'A Guide: Medal & Awards to British Police by Local Authorities of the United Kingdom'- 2020, OMRS. It seems to be a fairly comprehensive list of the SC ranks used. Of these, some were common to all forces, others were quite unusual and only used in one or a few forces. For what they are worth!! David SC Ranks.pdf

Hi Numis, Generally not a positive response. The website admin rightly point out that the effort to appoint moderators, and the work they would need to do to manage the forum activity would probably be far greater than warranted by what some believe would be a very small number of users. I and several others would be avid users (or at least participants until we found something to buy or sell) but whether we would be enough to warrant the commitment of time by others- not sure. Anyway, the idea seems to have been condemned to the backbench for the time being.

Hi Gordon- I haven't but very keen to do so- if you or other readers have one to sell please let me know!!

Hi All, I have what I believe are (almost) all of the variations in both the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal (1919) and the Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal (1951) as shown below: In the SC medals the obverses are- KGV crowned head from 1919 to 1931; KGV coinage head from 1931 to 1936; KGVI coinage head 'IND:IMP' from 1936 to 1949; KGVI coinage head 'FID.DEF' from 1949 to 1952; QEII coinage head 'BRIT.OMN' from 1952 to 1954; QEII coinage head 'DEI.GRATIA' from 1954 to date. All of these medals were made by the Royal Mint until about 1995 when the government, in a cost cutting measure, tendered out the manufacturing contract which was won by Birmingham Mint. The last QEII medal pictured is a Birmingham Mint example- note the slightly softer look and the noticeable difference in the suspender compared to the earlier versions. The contract returned to the Royal Mint in 2007 and it is said their issues from that time were slightly less in quality than those they issued prior to 1995. It was announced in 2018 that the contract was to be awarded to Worcester Medals. I am not sure whether that did occur, and have not seen any medal said to have been made by them, or which I can identify as 'different' from the earlier types. Re the Police LS & GC medals pictured, I believe they were all made by the Royal Mint although I have seen them offered on ebay occasionally with a Birmingham Mint case said to the original. I have not identified any differences in these medals, except for the metal content. The KGVI, and first 2 QEII versions were in nickel-silver and the last QEII is rhodium plated. If anyone can advise on the later variations, or provide pics or even better offer one for sale, call me!! DPK

Great material, Alan, and very good topic. On a related matter, anybody who is a member of OMRS should have a look at the recently released 'Webinar' presentations and also the on-line topis presented by various members, including one on the Houndsditch Murders' by James Kemp. OMRS usually has a physical convention at this time of year but have postponed it due to Covid- instead releasing two (so far) Webinars (a downloadable filmed presentation by various leaned people on medallic topics) with more to come each week, and also some viewable files on various topics. Well worth a look and extremely interesting material.

I am not sure about the UK or other Commonwealth countries/Dominions, but the ISM was awarded in Australia to police officers from its introduction, in both the initial 'star' medal and the later circular medal forms. The Edward VIII and George V issues were mostly for acts of bravery although documentary proof is essential to confirm. Award of the ISM to Australians ended in 1993 with a total of 7,737 issued to Australian recipients. Clearly the ISM was used (with a very liberal interpretation of its warrant) to reward Australian police for 'lower level' bravery or distinguished service including long service because there were limited other awards available. The inclusion of Australian Police in award of the 1951 Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal in 1956 effectively replaced the ISM. The following info is from 'Australians Awarded' by Clive Johnson, publisher Renniks Publications: EVIII star to police- 133. GV star to police- 189. GV medal to police- 810. GVI medal to police- approx 700. No known EIIR ISM awards to police.

Many thanks- will do!

All- I have really enjoyed these posts, immensely interesting and great research by many. On a side note, I have three relatives who are said by the family to have served initially in the C of L police and then all transferred to Northumberland police where they completed their careers. I am amazed at the records you have all uncovered in your C of L and Metropolitan research, and therefore am seeking you advice and help on finding out about my relatives. They were brothers Arthur STANWIX born 1909 died 1982, Lowther STANWIX born 1904 died 1977, and Thomas STANWIX (Dates unknown) who all originated in Cumbria. If anyone can point me towards sources to identify which force(s) they served in, and any on-line or other documents about Met and C of L personnel I would be most grateful.

I have an interesting medal, as pictured, and wonder if anyone knows of other similar awards on issue by UK Police Forces?