General Service Medal to a Maltese Soldier

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

in my collection I have a General Service Medal with single bar "EGYPT" named (officially impressed) for "LORENZO CAMILLERI MALTESE PIONEERS".

May I have more informations about the unit and the medals awarded to it for the Egyptian Campaign?

Best wishes,

Enzo

Edited August 1, 2007 by Elmar Lang

[Tiger-pie]

A photo would help mate. The GSM 1918-62 and the GSM 1962 were never issued with a clasp "EGYPT" (both have a green and purple riband). Or is your medal an earlier version? Without a photo it is hard to say. Can you give a description of it?

Regards;

Johnsy

[Elmar Lang]

Hello Johnsy,

please excuse me for the lack of details: the medal is the GSM 1793-1814. The inscription on the rim is exactly as transcribed.

Thank you and best wishes,

Enzo

[leigh kitchen]

The first clasp authorised for the MGS 1793 - 1814 (in 1850) was "EGYPT", for services 2nd March - 2nd September 1801.

Major Gordon (1st edition) lists the Maltese Pioniers as being recipients of the medal with with this clasp (the only clasp to which it was entitled), but the number awarded to the unit is not stated.

[Tiger-pie]

Hello Johnsy,

please excuse me for the lack of details: the medal is the GSM 1793-1814. The inscription on the rim is exactly as transcribed.

Thank you and best wishes,

Enzo

Ahh, well then you have yourself a nice medal there then. I was guessing that it must have been an earlier issue.

Regards;

Johnsy

[Elmar Lang]

Hello,

thank you for the information. I can imagine that few medals would have been awarded to the Maltese Pioneers (I don't think that it was a huge unit...).

As a matter of interest, I've seen a very old photo (from the era of the "calotype" process) of the Cheops' Pyramid and on one stone block there's a large inscription "CAMILLERI". Who knows, perhaps it was my medal's owner...

Best wishes,

Enzo

[Djedj]

Bonjour Enzo,

You'll find some information about the Maltese Pioneers here :

http://www.google.fr/books?id=DmouAAAAMAAJ...altefe+pioneers

John Young, in this book, states their force at 500.

Here's an extract from "The Malta Year Book" (no publication date alas) :

"The third unit was "The Maltese Pioneers", raised in December 1800 for Service with the British Expeditionary Force in Egypt. Anderson, referring to the artificers of this unit in his well known journal of the Egyptian Expedition says "The Maltese appeared to be very well acquainted with mechanical trades, and formed the major part of our Corps of Artificers, in which situation they proved themselves equal to the nicer and more difficult branches of their respective professions " The Maltese Pioneers returned to Malta on the expiration of their terms of service and were disbanded early in 1802."

Cheers,

Jerome

[Michael Johnson]

I suspect that the number of Maltese who survived until 1848 to claim their MGS was very small, especially when it was for an 1800 campaign.

The majority of the claims for the MGS were for Peninsular War actions, especially the later ones.

A rare medal indeed.

[Geoff Reeves]

A very nice medal, indeed, Enzo! While terms such as "rare" and "scarce" are used all too often in our hobby, I think it is safe to say that your MGS with "Egypt" clasp to the Malta Pioneers falls into that category. The latest (7th) edition of British Battles and Medals lists only 6 medals claimed (all with the Egypt clasp as Leigh mentioned earlier). Remember, also, that not all medals from that era have survived through to today - you, potentially, have a unique piece there.