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THE MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE DE ST. SIMON

  Newly translated and edited by FRANCIS ARKWRIGHT.

  _In six volumes, demy 8vo, handsomely bound in cloth gilt, with
  illustrations in photogravure, 10/6 net each volume._

NAPOLEON IN EXILE AT ELBA (1814-1815)

  By NORWOOD YOUNG, Author of "The Growth of Napoleon," etc.; with a
  chapter on the Iconography by A. M. Broadley.

  _Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, with  frontispiece and 50
  illustrations_ (from the collection of A. M. Broadley), _21/- net_.

NAPOLEON IN EXILE AT ST. HELENA (1815-1821)

  By NORWOOD YOUNG, Author of "Napoleon in Exile at Elba," "The Story
  of Rome," etc.

  _In two volumes, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, with two 
  frontispieces and one hundred illustrations_ (from the collection
  of A. M. Broadley), _32/- net_.

JULIETTE DROUET'S LOVE-LETTERS TO VICTOR HUGO

  Edited with a Biography of Juliette Drouet by LOUIS GUIMBAUD;
  translated by Lady THEODORA DAVIDSON.

  _Demy 8vo, cloth gilt, with many illustrations, 10/6 net._

THE NEW FRANCE

  =Being a History from the Accession of Louis Philippe in 1830 to
  the Revolution of 1848, with Appendices.=

  By ALEXANDRE DUMAS. Translated into English, with an introduction
  and notes, by R. S. GARNETT.

  _In two volumes, demy 8vo, cloth gilt, profusely illustrated with
  a rare portrait of Dumas and other pictures after famous artists,
  24/- net._

[Illustration: MEDALS AWARDED TO SERGEANT-MAJOR, LATER QUARTERMASTER,
CHARLES WOODEN, 17TH LANCERS, ONE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.

_Frontispiece_]




                              WAR MEDALS
                           AND THEIR HISTORY


                                  BY
                          W. AUGUSTUS STEWARD

                          OFFICIER D'ACADÉMIE
            AUTHOR OF "FROM THE BREASTS OF THE BRAVE," ETC.

                        _With 258 Illustrations
                        in Half-tone and Line_

                                LONDON
                           STANLEY PAUL & CO
                      31 ESSEX STREET STRAND W.C.

                       _First published in 1915_




FOREWORDS


If any excuse were needed for penning this, it is to be found in the
exceeding interest which was taken in my monograph "Badges of the
Brave." Indeed, many readers have requested me to deal, at greater
length, with a subject which not only opens up a great historical
vista and awakens national sentiment, but, incidentally, serves an
educational mission to those who collect and those who sell the
metallic records of many a hard-fought field, which, when collated,
form an imperishable record of our island story.

The War Medal is a comparatively modern institution, otherwise we might
have learned the names of the common folk who fought so tenaciously in
the old wars, as, for instance, the Welsh infantry and Irish soldiers
who, with the English bowmen, comprised the army of 30,000 which at
Crécy routed an army of 120,000; the followers of the Black Prince
who captured the impetuous King John at Poitiers, or the English
archers whose deadly volleys made such havoc at Agincourt, on that
fateful day in October nearly five hundred years ago; the brave seamen
who, under Lord Howard, Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, fought the
"Invincible Armada"; and those who, under Raleigh, vigorously pursued
the Spaniards on the high seas. We might have learned something of
the men who composed the Royal Scots and the 18th Royal Irish, and
helped to vindicate the reputation of the British soldier at Namur,
and covered themselves with glory at Blenheim; the gallant Coldstream
Guards who did such excellent service under Marlborough at Oudenarde
and Malplaquet, as well as the Gloucesters and Worcesters who fought
so well at Ramillies, or the Royal Welsh Fusiliers who served under
George II at Dettingen.

When, however, war medals were designed for distribution among
successful combatants, a means of decorating surviving soldiers and
sailors was established, and at the same time a sentimental and
substantial record of a man's labours for his country upon the field
of battle. So that, if the veterans of Drake's historic fleet, or
Marlborough's dauntless soldiers, were not possessed of badges to
distinguish them from the soldiers of industry, we, at any rate, may
hold in our hands the medals which were awarded to those who served
the immortal Nelson, and be proud to possess the medals which shone
upon the breasts of our great grandparents who defied the Conqueror
of Europe on that memorable Sunday, and made his sun to set upon the
battlefield of Waterloo.

Have you listened to the smart British veteran as he explains the
disposition of the troops on that historic occasion--how the French
cavalry "foamed itself away" in the face of those steady British
squares? How he makes the Welsh blood tingle as he records the glorious
deeds and death of Sir Thomas Picton, and the Scotsman's dance through
his veins as he explains how, with the cold steel of their terrible
bayonets, the Black Watch at Quatre Bras, and its second battalion, the
Perthshires, at Waterloo, waited for the charge of the cuirassiers; and
how Sergeant Ewart of the Scots Greys captured the Eagle of the 45th,
and then, with the rest of the Union Brigade (the English Royals and
the Irish Inniskillings), crashed through the ranks of the faltering
French, and scattered the veterans of Napoleon's army! Have you
seen how the mention of the Guards holding the Château of Hougomont
brightens the eye of the Englishman? Yes! Then just think what it is
to touch and possess the solid proofs of the deeds that those men did,
and to feel that you have in your possession the only recompense those
brave and daring men received from a grateful country.

=Historical Value.=--My collection of medals enables me to cover over a
hundred years of history; takes me back to the stirring times when men
yet met face to face in the Peninsula and at Waterloo; to the men who
founded our Indian Empire. It enables me to keep in touch with sailors
who fought in the battle of the Nile, at Trafalgar, and at Navarino,
that last of all naval battles in which we British took part--our
allies were then the French and Russians--until our battleships met
those of the Germans in the great war now waging. It reminds me of the
horsemen who made the world wonder ere, with deathless glory, they
passed their little day, and of that "thin red line" of Scots, whose
cool