The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranking below the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, until it was discontinued in 1993 when it was replaced by the

Conspicuous Gallantry Cross The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC) is a second level military decoration of the British Armed Forces. Created in 1993 and first awarded in 1995, it was instituted after a review of the British honours system to remove distinctions of rank in ...

. The medal was also awarded to non-commissioned military personnel of other Commonwealth Dominions and Colonies.Veterans Affairs Canada – Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM)
(Access date 19 May 2015)
(Access date 19 May 2015)

Institution

The Distinguished Conduct Medal was instituted by Royal Warrant on 4 December 1854, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, as an award to Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and men of the

for "distinguished, gallant and good conduct in the field". For all ranks below commissioned officer, it was the second highest award for gallantry in action after the

, and the other ranks equivalent of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

, which was awarded only to commissioned officers. Prior to its institution, there had been no official medal awarded by the British Crown in recognition of individual acts of gallantry in the Army.TracesOfWar.com – Distinguished Conduct Medal
(Access date 19 May 2015)Australian Government – It's an Honour – Imperial Awards – Distinguished Conduct Medal
(Access date 14 August 2018) The

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: * Meritorious Civilian Service Award *Meritorious Service Me ...

, established in 1845 to reward long serving Warrant Officers and Sergeants, was awarded several times up to 1854 for gallantry in action, although this was not the medal's main purpose. One earlier award specifically for acts of gallantry by other ranks was the unofficial

Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry In the Colonies and former Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Sir Harry Smith's Medal f ...

, instituted by Major General

Sir Harry Smith Lieutenant-General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet, GCB (28 June 1787 – 12 October 1860) was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, he is a ...

in 1851. Although the British government initially disapproved of Sir Harry's institution of the medal, it subsequently paid for it and thereby gave it recognition, but not official status.Online Medals – Medal Encyclopedia – Sir Harry Smith’s Medal For Gallantry
(Access date 27 April 2015)National Army Museum – Sir Harry Smith Medal for Gallantry 1851, awarded to Paul Arendt
(Access date 27 April 2015)
(Access date 27 April 2015) The Distinguished Conduct Medal was awarded with a gratuity, that varied in amount depending on rank, and given on the recipient's discharge from the Army. Since January 1918 recipients have been entitled to the

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

DCM. A

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to the medal, introduced in 1881, could be awarded in recognition of each subsequent act of distinguished conduct for which the medal would have been awarded.Firstworldwar.com Encyclopedia – Distinguished Conduct Medal
(Access date 19 May 2015)The Worcestershire Regiment – Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM)
(Access date 19 May 2015) During the First World War, concern arose that the high number of medals being awarded would devalue the medal's prestige. The

Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. The award ...

was therefore instituted on 25 March 1916 as an alternative and lower award, with the Distinguished Conduct Medal reserved for more exceptional acts of bravery. Around 25,000 Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded during the First World War, with approximately 1,900 during the Second World War.

Eligibility

The Distinguished Conduct Medal could also be awarded to military personnel serving in any of the Sovereign's forces in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

, with the first awards to colonial troops made in 1872, to the

West India Regiment The West India Regiments (WIR) were infantry units of the British Army recruited from and normally stationed in the British colonies of the Caribbean between 1795 and 1927. In 1888 the two West India Regiments then in existence were reduced t ...

.Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd edition. Page 71 Members of the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

remained ineligible since they could receive the

Indian Order of Merit The Indian Order of Merit (IOM) was a military and civilian decoration of British India. It was established in 1837, (General Order of the Governor-General of India, No. 94 of 1 May 1837) although following the Partition of India in 1947 it was ...

and, from 1907, the

Indian Distinguished Service Medal The Indian Distinguished Service Medal (IDSM) was a military decoration awarded by the British Empire to Indian citizens serving in the Indian armed forces and military police. When it was instituted in 1907 it was the second highest award avail ...

. From September 1916, members of the

Royal Naval Division The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who wer ...

were made eligible for military decorations, including the Distinguished Conduct Medal, for the war's duration. Otherwise, it remained an exclusively Army award until 1942, when other ranks of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and the Navies and Air Forces of the Dominions and Colonies also became eligible for distinguished conduct in action on the ground. In 1979 eligibility for a number of British awards, including the DCM, was extended to permit posthumous awards. Until that time, only the

and a

mention in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

could be awarded posthumously.

Adoption

In May 1894, Queen Victoria authorised Colonial governments to adopt various military medals for award to their local military forces. The

Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to ...

and the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

introduced this system in August and September 1894 respectively, and the

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

followed in December 1902, while Australia, Canada and New Zealand also adopted the medal. However, only the Natal and Canada versions were finally awarded, both in the King Edward VII version. A territorial version of the Distinguished Conduct Medal was approved for the Union of South Africa in 1913, but was never awarded. More than 300 members of the Union Defence Forces were awarded the applicable British versions of the decoration during the two World Wars.South African Medal Website – Colonial Military Forces
(Accessed 6 May 2015)
(Accessed 9 May 2015) In 1903 specific

African Distinguished Conduct Medal The African Distinguished Conduct Medal was a military decoration awarded to native soldiers of the Royal West African Frontier Force and the King's African Rifles for gallantry in action. Sometimes known as the Royal West African Frontier Force ...

s were established for the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions withi ...

and the

Royal West African Frontier Force The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) was a multi-battalion field force, formed by the British Colonial Office in 1900 to garrison the West African colonies of Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone and Gambia. In 1928, it received royal recognition ...

. These were superseded by the British Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1943. These colonial Distinguished Conduct Medals were of the same design as the British version, with an additional territorial or unit inscription on the reverse, in a curved line above the regular inscription.

Discontinuation

In the aftermath of the 1993 review of the British honours system, which formed part of the drive to remove distinctions of rank in respect of awards for bravery, the Distinguished Conduct Medal was discontinued, as was the

Conspicuous Gallantry Medal The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM) was, until 1993, a British military decoration for gallantry in action for petty officers and seamen of the Royal Navy, including Warrant Officers and other ranks of the Royal Marines. It was formerly awa ...

and the award, specifically for gallantry, of the

. These three decorations were replaced by the

, to serve as the second level award for gallantry for all ranks of all the Arms of the Service. After the Second World War, most Commonwealth countries created their own honours system and no longer recommended British awards. The last Distinguished Conduct Medal awards for the Canadian Army were for Korea. The last Australian DCM award was announced in the ''London Gazette'' on 1 September 1972 for Vietnam, as was the last New Zealand award, announced on 25 September 1970.

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

replaced the DCM in the 1990s, as part of the creation of their own gallantry awards under their own honours systems.

Order of wear

In the order of wear prescribed by the British

Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, or simply the Central Chancery, is an office of the Lord Chamberlain’s department within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the administration of or ...

, the Distinguished Conduct Medal ranks on par with the

Distinguished Conduct Medal (Natal) In 1895, Queen Victoria authorised Colonial governments to adopt various British military decorations and medals and to award them to their local military forces. The Colony of Natal introduced this system in August 1895 and, in 1897, institute ...

and takes precedence after the Air Force Cross and before the

Description

Distinguished Conduct Medal - Edward VII

Distinguished Conduct Medal - George V v1

Distinguished Conduct Medal - George V v2

Distinguished Conduct Medal - Elizabeth II

Distinguished Conduct Medal, second award bar

The medal was struck in silver and is a disk, in diameter and thick. The suspender of all versions is of an ornamented scroll pattern. The manner of attachment of the suspender to the medal varied between medal versions and, on early versions, allows the medal to swivel.
All medals awarded bear the recipient's number, rank, name and unit on the rim. ;Obverse There were eight variants of the obverse:Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd edition. Page 76
The original Victorian obverse shows a Trophy of Arms, designed by

Benedetto Pistrucci Benedetto Pistrucci (29 May 1783 – 16 September 1855) was an Italian gem-engraver, medallist and coin engraver, probably best known for his Saint George and the Dragon design for the British sovereign coin. Pistrucci was commissioned by ...

, incorporating a central shield bearing the Royal Coat of Arms without any inscription, as also seen on early Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. From 1902, after the accession of King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

, the effigy of the reigning monarch replaced the trophy of arms, with the respective titles of the monarch inscribed around the perimeter: * King Edward VII – "EDWARDVS VII REX IMPERATOR". * King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

, bareheaded – "GEORGIVS V BRITT: OMN: REX ET IND: IMP:". * King George V, crowned – "GEORGIVS•V•D•G•BRITT•OMN•REX•ET•INDIÆ•IMP•". Issued for awards in the 1930s. * King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

– There were two versions, with those inscribed "GEORGIVS VI D:G:BR OMN REX ET INDIAE IMP:" awarded during the Second World War and immediately after, and "GEORGIVS VI DEI GRA: BRITT: OMN: REX FID: DEF:" current from the late 1940s. This second type was awarded, instead of the Elizabeth II version, to Canadians during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. * Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

– Two versions, with those inscribed "ELIZABETH II D:G:BR:OMN: REGINA F:D:" awarded in the mid-1950s and "ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F.D" awarded thereafter until 1993. ;Reverse The reverse of all versions is smooth, with a raised rim, and bears the inscription "''FOR DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT IN THE FIELD''" in four lines, underlined by a laurel wreath between two spear blades. ;Bars The bar for a second or subsequent award is straight and also of silver. Bars awarded between 1881 and mid-1916 bear the month and year of the subsequent award, while those awarded after mid-1916 bear a laurel-spray and no date. In undress uniform or on occasions when only ribbons are worn, a silver rosette is worn on the ribbon to indicate the award of each bar.Online Medals – Distinguished Conduct Medal
(Access date 19 May 2015) ;Ribbon The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and dark crimson, with a 10 millimetres wide navy blue band in the centre.

Recipients

All awards of the Distinguished Conduct Medal were notified in the London Gazette and, during the First World War, citations were generally also included. From 1854 to 1914 3,529 medals and 13 second award bars were awarded. Of these, about 808 medals were awarded for the Crimean War and 2,092 for the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, with some of the latter being the Edward VII version. During the Boer War, six medals were awarded posthumously and six dated bars were awarded, three of them to recipients who had won their first Distinguished Conduct Medal in this war.AngloBoerWar.com – British and Colonial – Distinguished Conduct Medal
(Access date 19 May 2015)Figures from Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, pp 81-82, excluding cancelled and disallowed awards. For the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 24,620 medals as well as 472 first bars and nine second bars were awarded, with 46 further awards for the period 1920–39. For the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 1,891 medals and nine first bars were awarded. Post War, a total of 153 DCMs were earned between 1947 and 1979, including 45 to Australian and New Zealand forces for service in Vietnam.Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd edition. pp 81-84 A further 25 awards were made after 1979, nine for service in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, eight for the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, and eight for the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, including a number of retrospective awards up to 2006. Honorary awards of the Distinguished Conduct Medal were made to members of allied forces, including 5,227 for the First World WarHoward Williamson. ''Awards of the DCM and MM to the Allied armies during the Great War of 1914-20.'' Orders & Medals Research Society Journal, Vol 59, No 1. March 2020, p 13. Numbers based on names published in the ''London Gazette'' and ''War Office Lists'' up to August 1925, and includes DCMs for Russian intervention 1919-20. and 107 for the Second World War. (Lists of WW1 awards to allied forces are kept in country specific files within th
WO 388/6
series at

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, and were published in 2018.) ;Australia Beginning in the Second Boer War, the Distinguished Conduct Medal has been awarded to 2,071 members of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

and to three members of the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. Thirty first Bars were awarded, all to members of the Army and the majority for actions during the First World War. The last award to an Australian was made in 1972, arising from the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. ;Canada The medal was first awarded to a Canadian on 19 April 1901. Altogether, there were 2,132 awards to

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

and

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

personnel, 38 first Bars and one second Bar. ;Malaysia The medal was instituted in the State of

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

in 1959 and conferred on individuals who have exhibited competence or achieved praiseworthy deeds in any field. The recipient must possess good conduct and character.

Post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

PKT. ;New Zealand Between 1899 and 1970, 525 awards of the Distinguished Conduct Medal were made to New Zealanders. ;South Africa More than 300 Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded to South Africans during the two World Wars.