The Medal of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Gallantry, known as the Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM), was a British medal awarded for acts of gallantry. Unlike the then existing

Sea Gallantry Medal The Sea Gallantry Medal (SGM) (officially the 'Medal for Saving Life at Sea', and originally the ' Board of Trade Medal for Saving Life at Sea'), is a United Kingdom award for civil gallantry at sea. History The Merchant Shipping Act 1854 pro ...

(SGM) (1854), the Albert Medal (AM) (1866) and the

Edward Medal The Edward Medal was a British civilian decoration which was instituted by royal warrant on 13 July 1907 to recognise acts of bravery of miners and quarrymen in endangering their lives to rescue their fellow workers. The medal was named in hono ...

(EM) (1907) which each had two classes with restricted eligibility criteria, the EGM was a single class award with wide eligibility. It was instituted by

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 his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

on 29 December 1922. In July 1937, recipients were granted the right to use the post-nominal letters "EGM". The EGM was superseded in 1940 by the George Cross which was also a single class award with wide eligibility but unlike the low placed EGM on the Order of Wear, the George Cross was listed immediately after 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 ...

. The EGM was a medal of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

and like the Order itself, was divided into civil and military divisions, but unlike the British Empire Medal (BEM), officers were eligible for the medal.

History

In 1922, the original ''Medal of the Order of the British Empire'' was discontinued and replaced by two separate awards, the ''Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry'' (EGM), and the ''Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service'', known as the British Empire Medal. The EGM had been ranked after the SGM, AM and EM on the Order of Wear but was superseded by the George Cross in 1940. On 24 September 1940 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 his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

created the George Cross, to rank immediately after the

, to recognize gallantry not in the presence of the enemy. The EGM ceased the same day. In April 1941, it was announced that, except for honorary recipients, all living recipients and the next-of-kin of those posthumously awarded the EGM after 3 September 1939, were to exchange their insignia for the George Cross. In 1971, all living recipients of the Albert Medal and

were deemed George Cross holders but unlike EGM recipients the exchange of their original insignia for the George Cross was optional.

Appearance

It is a circular silver medal, in diameter, with a straight suspender augmented with laurel leaves. The recipient's name was impressed on the rim. Except for the ribbon, the design of the civil and military divisions was the same. The obverse showed Britannia facing right, her left and resting on a shield and right hand holding a trident, with a sun in the upper right corner. The wording "For God and the Empire" was inscribed round the upper side, and "For Gallantry" in the

exergue A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...

. The first reverse had the Royal Cypher surrounded by six lions. The 2nd type, adopted after the accession of George VI in 1937, had the Royal Cypher with four lions, two on either side with, below, the wording "Instituted by George V". The original ribbon was plain purple, with the addition of a thin vertical red stripe for military awards. A silver laurel branch was added diagonally to the ribbon for both types of the award in 1933, and was worn on the ribbon bar when ribbons alone were worn. The ribbon changed to rose pink with pearl grey edges in July 1937, with an addition pearl grey vertical stripe for military awards, and stayed in this version until the medal's revocation.

Statistics

There were a total of 130 awards, including eight made posthumously: * Civil Division 64 (3 posthumous) * Military Division 62 (5 posthumous) * Honorary awards 4 (non-British citizens, 3 French and 1 Belgian) The four honorary awards were not able to be exchanged for the George Cross. On 24 September 1940, 107 of the other 126 recipients were living and all exchanged awards. The next of kin of five deceased recipients, Herbert John (Bertie) Mahoney whose EGM award was gazetted on 23 December 1927 and the four Military Division posthumous awards gazetted after the start of World War II also exchanged awards.

Selected recipients

''Awards of the EGM that were not exchanged for the George Cross are marked below with (*).''

References

External links

Information on the Empire Gallantry Medal
* {{Decorations of the United Kingdom Civil awards and decorations of the United Kingdom Courage awards Awards established in 1922 Awards disestablished in 1940