The Saint Helena Medal (french: Médaille de Sainte-Hélène) was the first French campaign medal. It was established in 1857 by a decree of emperor Napoleon III to recognise participation in the campaigns led by emperor

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. Emperor Napoléon I, creator of the Order of the Legion of Honour and various other orders, never instituted commemorative campaign medals for his soldiers. In time, many veterans of these campaigns, sometimes called the "débris de la Grande Armée" ( en, "remnants of the Great Army"), began meeting within various new veterans' associations. Keeping alive their war memories and the myth of Napoléon in popular culture, they issued many unofficial commemorative and associative medals. It would be forty two years after the last battles and exile of the emperor to the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

before the need to adequately and officially recognise the service of these combat veterans was eventually recognised officially by an imperial decree of Emperor Napoléon III creating, on 12 August 1857, the Saint Helena Medal.According to Fondation Napoléon 450,000 old soldiers were recorded as being alive, in the 1850s.

Award statute

The Saint Helena Medal was awarded to all French and foreign soldiers, from the land armies or naval fleets, who served the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

or the Empire between the years 1792 and 1815 inclusive. The medal was awarded with no condition of minimum time of service or participation in a particular military campaign; it was, however, necessary to prove one's right to the medal with a record of service or leave record. A later decree of 16 April 1864 added the Saint Helena Medal to the list of awards that could be revoked following a condemnation to a fixed prison term of one year or more for a crime committed by the recipient. The Saint Helena Medal was accompanied by an award certificate from the Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honour and came in a white cardboard box with intricate ornamentation on the lid in the form of an embossed imperial eagle over the inscription on seven lines "AUX COMPAGNONS DE GLOIRE DE NAPOLÉON I DÉCRET IMPÉRIAL DU 12 AOÛT 1857" ( en, "TO NAPOLÉON I COMPANIONS IN GLORY IMPERIAL DECREE OF 12 AUGUST 1857").

Award description

The Saint Helena Medal is of irregular shape and struck from bronze. It is a 2 cm in diameter circular medallion surrounded by a 50mm wide laurel wreath tied with a bow at the bottom. Atop the medal, a 2 cm wide Imperial Crown. The obverse of the medallion bears the relief image of the right profile of Emperor

surrounded by the relief inscription "NAPOLÉON I EMPEREUR" ( en, "NAPOLÉON I EMPEROR"). A ring or small orbs separates the central medallion from the wreath. Just below the image of the emperor, a small anchor, the privy mark of the award's designer, Désiré-Albert Barre. The reverse is identical except for the medallion which bears the relief circular inscription within a narrow 20mm band "CAMPAGNES DE 1792 A 1815" ( en, "CAMPAIGNS OF 1792 TO 1815"). In the centre, the relief inscription on nine lines "A" "SES" "COMPAGNONS" "DE GLOIRE" "SA DERNIÈRE" "PENSÉE" "STE HÉLÈNE" "5 MAI" "1821" ( en, "TO HIS COMPANIONS IN GLORY HIS LAST THOUGHT ST HELENA 5 MAY 1821"). The medal should hang from a 38mm wide green silk moiré ribbon bearing five 1,8mm wide red vertical stripes spaced 4,5mm apart and 1mm red edge stripes. The ribbon passes through a suspension ring, itself passing through a lateral hole in the imperial crown's orb atop the medal. Image:Médaille de ste helene revers.jpg, Reverse of the St Helena medal. Image:Medaille Saint-Helene mg 3450.jpg, Award certificate. Image:Doos van de Medaille van Sint-Helena.jpg, Presentation box cover File:Emblem of Napoleon Bonaparte.svg, Emblem of the Imperial Great Army File:Napoleon in His Study.jpg, Emperor Napoléon I

Notable recipients (partial list)

Military

* Marshal of France Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant *Marshal of France

Bernard Pierre Magnan Bernard Pierre Magnan (7 December 1791 in Paris – 29 May 1865 in Paris) was a Marshal of France. Magnan started his career as an enlisted soldier of the 66th Line in 1809. Promoted to sergeant in 1810, the next year he entered the officers r ...

*Marshal of France Aimable Pélissier *Admiral Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin *General Mathieu Brialmont *Engineer general Jacques, comte Mallet *General Émile Herbillon *General Aristide de La Ruë *General Charles Oudinot *General Teodoro Lechi *General François Martineau des Chesnez *General Anne Charles Lebrun *General Émile Mellinet *General Casimir-Louis-Victurnien de Rochechouart de Mortemart *General Albert Joseph Goblet d'Alviella *General Vivant-Jean Brunet-Denon *General Tomasz Łubieński *General Pierre Schaken *General Émile Perrodon *General Pierre Chrétien Korte *General

Jean-Ernest Ducos de La Hitte Jean Ernest Ducos de La Hitte, Viscount, was born on 5 September 1789 in Bessières (Haute-Garonne), and died on 22 September 1878 in Gragnague (Haute-Garonne). He was a French major general, Senator, Foreign Minister, and the implementer of the ...

*Vice admiral Odet-Pellion *Rear admiral Louis Tromelin *Colonel Louis Auguste de Bourbel de Montpinçon *Lieutenant colonel Louis-Casimir Teyssier *Commander Joseph Toussaint Bernard *Major Étienne Desjoyeaux *Captain

Jean-Joseph Charlier Jean-Joseph Charlier (15 April 179430 March 1886) was a Belgian artisan and revolutionary who became an iconic figure in the Belgian Revolution. His participation as an amputee in the fighting near Brussels Park during the Dutch attack on Brussel ...

*Captain Amédée de Bast *Captain Claude Noisot *Imperial Guard Officer Martin Marie Benard

Civilian

*Doctor François-Joseph Cazin * Pierre François Dumont (1789–1864), French industrialist * Marcellin Jobard *

Nicolas Savin Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Savin (17 April 1768/13 July 1787? – 29 November 1894) was a French soldier and a claimed supercentenarian, although this cannot be verified. He claimed to be the last survivor of the French Revolutionary Wars of 1792–18 ...

References

External links

Museum of the Legion of HonourNapoleon's Great Army
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helena Medal French campaign medals Awards established in 1857 1857 establishments in France Awards of British Overseas Territories Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha culture