James Hoard

Thanks chaps. I am afraid neither Werlich nor Medclaf discuss or illustrate the medals, only the orders. Hence my question. Cheers, James

I have seen lots of information about the orders of the kingdom of Hawaii. However, I have never seen any informaion on or pictures of any medals. Does anyone have informaion on the medals of the erstwhile kingdom of Hawaii or any illustrations? Cheers, James

Herewith an extract from the regulations on th modern orders, decorations and medals of Uganda instituted in February 2001. TITLES of HONOURS, THEIR DESCRIPTION AND INCIDENTS 1 PART I - CIVILIAN DECORATIONS AND MEDALS 1 The Most Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa Grand Master - awarded to Heads of State and Heads of Government. 2 The Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa Grand Commander - reserved for the spouses of Heads of State, Vice Presidents, Crown Princes and Princesses. 3 The Distinguished Order of the Nile [Classes I-V] Five classes - awarded to those who have distinguished themselves in productive research, economic, social and cultural enterprises. 4 The Distinguished Order of the Crested Crane [Classes I-V] Five classes - awarded to people who have distinguished themselves in leadership and service, both public and private. 5 The National Independence Medal Awarded to all civilian activists who championed and contributed significantly in the struggle for independence and those who have continued to protect the independence of Uganda. 6 The Nalubaale Medal Awarded to all civilian activists who have contributed towards the political development of Uganda either through armed struggle or civil disobedience and otherwise right from colonial times to date. Part II - MILITARY DECORATIONS AND MEDALS 7 The Order of Katonga (1) The highest and most rarely awarded military decoration for individual extra-ordinary instances of heroism in the army. (2) The instances referred to are those that involve voluntary acceptance of additional danger beyond the call of duty and risk of life. (3) The President (or where the President is the beneficiary, the Chief Justice) shall be the only person to make presentations of The Order of Katonga, and every time it is presented, the citation shall clearly indicate the reasons for the award. (4) The Order may be awarded to an individual more than once on different occasions; and apart from order awarded on the very first time, a bar attached to the ribbon by which the order is suspended shall record each subsequent award. 8 The Kabalega Star (classes I - III) (1) The second highest military decoration with three classes. (2) The award shall be for conspicuous gallantry that does not justify the award of The Order of Katonga but bordering with the qualification for the award of the Order of Katonga. 9 The Rwenzori Star (classes I - III) (1) The third highest military decoration of the army with three classes. (2) The decoration shall be awarded for distinguished or exemplary military service, which shall include exceptionally meritorious service or great responsibility in military service. (3) Under exceptional circumstances and with the approval of the President, the Rwenzori Star maybe awarded to persons other than members of the military. 10 The Masaba Star (1) The fourth highest military decoration. (2) Awarded to a person under the same circumstances described in the award of the Kabalega Medal, but where gallantry is not as conspicuous as in the Kabalega Medal. 10 The Damu Medal: (1) Awarded to any member of the military who was or is wounded in action against the enemy; With an opposing armed or hostile force of a foreign country; While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing force in which Uganda is not a belligerent party; As a result on an act of any such enemy or opposing armed force; As a result of any military operations while serving outside the territory of Uganda as a party of a peace- keeping force; As a result of terrorist attacks against Uganda; As a result of injury by the enemy while taken as prisoner of war; As a result of a military operation during the liberation struggles. (2) All officers' men and women killed in action during the liberation struggles shall qualify for the Damu Medal. 12. Luwero Triangle Medal (1) The Luwero Triangle Medal is used as the climax of the armed struggles. (2) Awarded to any officer man and woman who joined armed struggle against dictatorships in Uganda. (3) Civilians who operated closely with the armed freedom fighters during struggles against dictatorships shall qualify for the award of this Medal. 13 The Kyoga Medal (1) Awarded to officers men and women of the army who have gallantry fought and defeated insurgencies in different parts of Uganda. PART III - MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 1.Whenever a title of honour is presented to a person, the citation shall clearly indicate the reasons for the award of the tile of honour. 2.Except for the Order of the Katonga, the President may delegate the presentation of any title of honour to any other person. 3.Various classes of each award shall have the same design and shape clearly defined and gazetted, provided each class is clearly indicated. 4.Any title of honour may be awarded to an individual more than once; and apart from the title of honour awarded the first time, a bar attached to the ribbon by which the title of honour is suspend shall record each subsequent award. 5. (1) Any title of honour maybe posthumously awarded to a member of the family of the deceased in accordance with the law of succession and inheritance of Uganda. (2) In any case where there is conflict as to who should receive the title of honour, the family shall advise the committee on the appropriate person to receive the title of honour. Cheers, James

Hi Emmanuel Well, I only mentiond some of the errors that I found and they happen to be in the areas that I happen to have some good knowledge. However, I have spoken to several people and everyone comes up with howlers from their own areas of expertise. So I guess the error rate is very much higher than 5%. Thank you so much for posting the Mozambique decorations. I have never seen them before. As regards Indonesia, several of the sultanates and principalities had orders during the Dutch colonial period but it is almost impossible to find any information about them. Apart from Surakarta, the other states that I know had orders are Yogyakarta (on Java), Deli and Siak (on Sumatra), Pontianak and Sambas (on Borneo). One knows this from seing pictures of the sultans and officials of the period ca 1860-1940. Chris Buyers has some of these pictures of the rulers posted on his website but not all of them have been transferred to the new host so may not be visible to the public yet. I would guess that the one you may have seen is the neck badge worn by the Sultan of Siak. This dates from the second half of the nineteenth century. Sultan of Siak ca 1885 However, even very experienced Dutch collectors do not know anything about them. Once in a while some of the Surakarta commmorative medals and lower class dcorations come up amongst groups belonging to Dutch colonial military officers, but that is still very rare. Part of the reason may be because most of the higher decorations tended to be jewelled, with a preference for diamonds, emeralds and rubies, so they may have been broken up for the gems when the heirs became strapped for cash. Also, during 1946 in Sumatra and Borneo there was a very bitter civil war in which aristocrats were attacked and murdered, palaces burned and records destroyed. I guess a few of the revolutionaries may not have been averse to "liberating" some of these valuable items. You are right, they use the word "bintang" (meaning "star"). But then people use "nishan" for most Muslim countries, and that is a term which actually translates as "sign/insignia" or possibly "decoration". It is often used for a wide variety of things including badges of office, military rank insignia and even military flags. So I do not really see much logic in excluding stars but including insignia. Cheers, James

Hi Emmanuel, Thanks for the mention of the special order for the Queen Mother. I can understand about the pictures, but may be they have some useful information about the order that they may be willing to share. Date of creation, classes, names of classes, conditions of award, etc. Such information is sometimes even harder to come by than pictures or illustrations. As for the Burke's book one must understand that was a commercial venture. Furthermore, it came at a very hefty price, but the editors expected everyone to contribute free of charge. The result on the end product was obvious: Kuwait is a "republic", Rwanda orders that never existed until the ex-King settled in America, the design of the Islamic Order of Brunei is a "cross" and all sorts of similar howlers with photographs published back to front, some photographs cribbed from the net, published out of focus, etc, etc. Cheers, James

Emmanuel, Thanks for the lead. I will write to them and see if they will share more details about these and any other Swazi decorations they may produce. Cheers, James

Doesn't nishan really mean insignia or decoration, rather than order? Cheers, James

The orders he mentions receiving are as mentioned in one of my previous posts:the Orders of Al-Saidi of Oman 1st class (10.10.1928), Brilliant star of Zanzibar 2nd class (2.7.1929), Lion and Sun of Persia 3rd class (1913), the Osmans (Nishan-i-Osmanieh) 3rd class (1903), and Nobility (Nishan-i-Mejidieh) 4th class (1895) of Turkey, and the Red Eagle of Prussia 4th class (1912). Presumably the first of the miniatures is the Red Eagle. The second is the miniature of the Saidi Order. The third from the left looks like the French Black Star of Benin but is probably the miniature of the Star of Zanzibar. The third from the right is the Lion & Sun, which looks as if it is between the Mejidieh and Osmanieh. The last on the right is a medal, probably the Sultan of Zanzibar's Jubilee Medal. What the fourth order is, I cannot even hazard a guess. Cheers, James

Megan, Thank you so much. You are an absolute star. I left the legs in because of the caption at the bottom. When someone does not have access to the original source, every little helps authenticate the claim. With all best wishes, James

Owain At long last I found an opportunity to visit the SOAS Library earlier today and found the book and picture mentioned by Chris Buyers. Haarmann, Ulrich (ed.). Arab History and Civilisation Studies and Texts. Volume 3: An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds; Memoirs, Letters Home, Sequels to the Memoirs, Syrian Customs and Usages by Sayyida Salme/Emily Ruete edited with an introduction by E. Van Donzel. E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1993. The picture of Said-Ruete wearing the Saidi Order, breast star, riband and badge together with the Star of Zanzibar 2nd class breast star and neck badge and other order miniatures appears on page 135. I cannot get my scan to load even though I have made it b&w, cut it down to size, changed format from jpeg to gif, and tried loading three times. If you would like a copy please do send me a note with an e-mail address that could take largish jpeg files. Cheers, James

Absolutely typical. Nobody will "attack" you if you are able to set asside your prejudices and bring yourself to give a balanced view of both sides of an issue. That is what most good academics and teachers normally aim to do. At least that is what I experienced when I studied in, amongst other places, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada and the UK long after the empire was dead and buried.

Thanks for the useful and interesting posting. The attached scan is probably genuine. The Judean Battalion was raised in 1919 and disbanded around 1921 after questions over the loyalty and off-duty activities of its members. The badge owes its origins to the fact that a large number of recruits came from the war raised 38th, 39th and particularly 40th (Judean) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, the so-called ?Erestz Israel Volunteers?, after the latter was disbanded in 1919. During the Great War, the 39th Batalion, Royal Fusiliers were also known as the 2nd Judean Battalion. Cheers, James

Hi Matt, Now that would have been a more useful source/reference to mention. By the way, I have looked up Mavrogordato and one of his other claims to fame seems to have been banning calypso in Trinidad because it was immoral and indecent. Cheers, James

Sorry all, but for some reason the links do not seem to work and the search is not saved. Please try again using the following link. http://www.jhm.nl/beeld.aspx?database=fotos&limit=1&start=1&SEARCH=trefwoord%20=%20"Joodse%20Brigade Click on "nieuwe zoekactie" and then enter "Joodse Brigade" in the field marked "vrij zoeken" The images you should be looking for are: fotonummer 00006645 ? group photograph of officers. fotonummer 00006629 ? close up of a private wearing a beret with badge. The photographs are all in adobe flash format so you can zoom and enlarge them quite easily. Cheers, James

Hi Matt, Thanks for the long and interesting post. Sorry, if I cause confusion myself. I did not necessarily mean that the badge depicted was Jewish brigade, I was working on the assumption that it was RAChD Jewish chaplains. The two links I posted last indicated the use of two other, different, badges by members of the Jewish brigade. While the explanation for the origins of the Trinidad & Tobago police badge sounds interesting. But again there are some crossed wires. Surely Palestine did not have a Star of David flag during the British mandate! Cheers, James

I have since found a Dutch on-line photographic archive which seems to have quite a few pictures. This one can be enlarged to view the cap badge <A href="http://www.jhm.nl/beeld.aspx?database=fotos&limit=1&start=19&SEARCH=wwwsamen%20=%20"baehr">http://www.jhm.nl/beeld.aspx?database=fotos&limit=1&start=19&SEARCH=wwwsamen%20=%20"baehr It appears to be the same as the third badge in the second row of the stamp sheet. This one of a group of officers <A href="http://www.jhm.nl/beeld.aspx?database=fotos&limit=1&start=1&SEARCH=trefwoord%20=%20"Joodse%20Brigade">http://www.jhm.nl/beeld.aspx?database=fotos&limit=1&start=1&SEARCH=trefwoord%20=%20"Joodse%20Brigade These seem to be wearing the third badge on the first row of the stamp sheet. Cheers, James

Leigh, That's the one I was thinking of. I do hear everyone saying that it isn't. But, there seems to be such a rag bag of confusion over what it is supposed to be that makes one doubt the dismissal. Especially after seeing the stamp. The stamp at least has some degree of official authority. Cheers, James

Matt, I did see your earlier post but I could not follow what you were saying and your latest post confuses me a little further. In your first post you mention "mandated territory" but now you talk about tthe flag of the "British colony". So I am a little confused. After the Great War, a long slice of territory along the Nigerian border which previously belonged to the former German colony of Kamerun, was attached to Nigeria under a League of Nations mandate. At the independence of Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons elected through a UN conducted referendum to join the former French Cameroons. The north joined the Federation of Nigeria. Before independence, Nigeria was a joint contraption, consisting of a "colony and protectorate". Nigeria was never a mandated territory. Could you perhaps clear this up? Cheers, James

Are you actually referring to the badge for Jewish chaplains of the RAchD?

Mr Mackinlay, I would like to thank you for such a fine and fascinating post about (British) Somaliland, a little known area of the world on which one can rarely find very much. However, I think that in this case you may be blaming the Americans unfairly for 1960. British Somaliland (shared with other places like Nyasaland/Malawi and Transjordon) could not properly finance itself and the government subsited on annual grants from London. That was really the primary reason for pushing it towards unification with Somalia. It is such a tragedy to learn about the loss of your brothers papers. Did he ever consult the private papers of Major-General A.R. Chater? Chater served at various times as the OC Somaliland Camel Corps, Military Governor and GOC and finally Hon Colonel Commandant of the Somaliland Scouts and Sudan Camel Corps. His private papers contain a wealth of information on Somaliland, the Somaliland military units, government, the war and his subsequent BMA. They have been deposited in the Liddell Hart Archives at King's College, London. Please see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/cats/chater/ch50-01-.htm Cheers, James Hoard

There's an Israeli stamp, or more correctly a stamp sheet, commemmorating the Jewish Brigade from 1988 and which depicts several Crown service badges. Alas, I have not been able to find a larger picture which may give a better indication of what's what. But this came from a picassa account/website, which you may like to explore further because it seems to have a selection of people in uniform - see http://images.google.com/images?um=1&h...wish+Brigade%22 Failing that, a stamp dealer may be able to help. Cheers, James

Will, I certainly hear what you are saying. However, members need to be aware that the explanations and postings being given here are frequently highly biased versions of a particular political point of view. Just because they may come from "senior members" does not mean they are more or less valid than anybody else. The definition of "Durbar" is a supreme example. The explanation given has an element of truth to it but is far from complete. The word actually means and the functions served equates to something similar to our "court" or "levee". A "durbar" is an important ceremonial held in the audience hall of a ruler to hear petitions and accounts, make investitures or official appointments, the receipt or giving of presents, official letters, etc. The British innovation was to enlarge the scale and take it out doors to a very much wider audience. Cheers, James

Actually nothing of historical importance at all, simply the usual narrow and outdated Americanised opinion, followed by the usual cry-baby "toys out of the pram" stuff when anyone points it out.

No, it does not mean that at all. The words in parenthesis are just Ed having his usual "anti-British", "anti-Imperialist" anti "monachist" dig. Very common in many of his posts.

I think it also depends on the width of individuals ribbons. If one has a couple of Grand Crosses, for example, one may only be able to fit a couple.