The Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM) is a United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of bravery where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...

, but above the level required for the Queen's Commendation for Bravery.

History

The Queen's Gallantry Medal was instituted on 20 June 1974 to replace 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 ...

for Gallantry and the

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

for Gallantry, which ended the anomaly where the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry was awarded for lesser acts of bravery than the

but took precedence over it in the

Order of Wear Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

. In addition, the QGM replaced the Colonial Police Medal for Gallantry (the last award of which was made in November 1974). It ''de facto'' replaced awards of the Sea Gallantry Medal, but this has never been formally announced. The Royal Warrant for the QGM was amended on 30 November 1977 to allow for posthumous awards, as was that for the George Medal. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, between June 1974 and September 2022, there were 1,094 awards announced in

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

, including 19 second award bars. The armed forces received 542 awards and civilians, including police, 552 including 120 to the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

, almost twice as many as any other group. Forty-one of the awards were posthumous, and 25 were to women.

Criteria

The medal is awarded for "exemplary acts of bravery" by civilians, and by members of the Armed Forces for "actions for which purely military Honours are not normally granted".

Description

The medal is silver and circular in shape, 36 mm in diameter, with the following design: * The obverse of the QGM shows the crowned portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Thomas and is inscribed "ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F.D.". * The reverse of the QGM (designed by Reynolds Stone CBE, RDI) bears the image of a St Edward's Crown above the words 'The Queen's Gallantry Medal' in four lines, flanked by

laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

sprigs. * The 32 mm wide ribbon is of "Garter" blue, with a central stripe of pearl grey, within which is a narrow stripe of rose pink; the grey and rose colours represent the Order of the British Empire, which the medal replaced. While awards to women generally have the ribbon fashioned into a bow, female recipients in the armed forces or civilian uniformed services have the medal presented with the ribbon in the same style as for male recipients. * The name of the recipient is impressed on the rim of the medal. When awarded to members of the Armed Forces, service number, rank, and unit are also included. * A further award of the medal is indicated by a silver bar ornamented with laurel leaves worn on the ribbon. When the ribbon alone is worn, a silver rosette denotes award of the bar. Recipients are 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, ...

"Q.G.M.".

Notable recipients

Among the more notable recipients are: * Charles Bruce, former 22

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

Soldier. Awarded in November 1986 for his conduct in Operation Banner, Northern Ireland in December 1984. *

Peter Edmonds Peter Edmonds QGM (1948–2005) was a British police officer who received the Queens Gallantry Medal for bravery. Policing career Edmonds joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1971; he spent most of his career within the CID and reached the ...

, Metropolitan Police Officer. Awarded in March 1974 for his actions during the kidnap attempt of

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

. *

Guy Edwards Guy Richard Goronwy Edwards, QGM (born 30 December 1942) is a former racing driver from England. Best known for his sportscar and British Formula One career, as well as for brokering sponsorship deals, Edwards participated in 17 World Champion ...

, former Formula 1 driver. Awarded for assisting in the rescue of Niki Lauda from his blazing Ferrari 312T at the

1976 German Grand Prix The 1976 German Grand Prix (formally the XXXVIII Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring on 1 August 1976. It was the scene of reigning world champion Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident, and the last F ...

at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. * John Leonard Graham GM. Detective Senior Constable,

Queensland Police Service The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto ...

. Awarded in 1976 for the rescue of 36 occupants of the Coolangatta Hotel, after an arsonist set the hotel on fire on New Years Day, 1975. Anthony Lacon and Ian Rogers also received the QGM for this rescue. Graham had previously been awarded the George Medal for bravery in 1973, and was subsequently awarded the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct.Among 40 QGMs to Australians, gazetted after the creation of Australian Honours System but before 5 October 1992, when any future awards to Australians are treated by Australia as foreign awards. Accounts of all Australian recipients is included in ''For Exemplary Bravery: The Queens Gallantry Medal'' by Nick Metcalfe, see sources below. * Daniel Hellings, a 19-year-old Private from the 2nd Mercian Regiment of the British Army. Awarded in 2010 for uncovering several IED bombs in a combat situation in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. *Chris Jewell and Jason Mallinson, two members of the British teams involved in the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue. * Anthony David Lacon (now Hewett-Lacon), a 23-year-old Queensland Police officer. Awarded in 1976 for multiple rescues from the Coolangatta Hotel fire, when John Graham and Ian Rogers also received the QGM. * Stephen Oake, an anti-terrorism detective who was given the award posthumously after being murdered in Crumpsall,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

by Islamic terrorist Kamel Bourgass. Oake had prevented the al-Qaeda member from attacking his colleagues, despite being unarmed himself and having suffered eight serious stab wounds. * Ian Kenneth Rogers, a 21-year-old Queensland Police officer. Awarded in 1976 for multiple rescues from the Coolangatta Hotel fire, when John Graham and Anthony Lacon also received the QGM. *

John Smeaton John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fir ...

, former Baggage Handler. Awarded in December 2007 for his actions in the

2007 Glasgow International Airport attack The Glasgow Airport attack was a terrorist ramming attack which occurred on 30 June 2007, at 15:11 BST, when a dark green Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane canisters was driven at the glass doors of the Glasgow Airport terminal and set ablaze ...

. * Ranger Cyril J. Smith, 2nd Bn Royal Irish Rangers; killed by a proxy bomb at a border checkpoint at

Killeen, County Armagh Killeen"Killeen" is the official name of the townland. or Killean () is a small village and townland in the civil parish of Killeavy, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about four miles (6.5 km) south of Newry, near the border with Cou ...

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 ...

on 24 October 1990. A Catholic man, Patrick Gillespie, who had been a civilian employee of the British Army, was forced to drive where the soldiers would be, or his two sons would be shot. He was to tell the soldiers they had forty minutes to get clear but within seconds of reaching the checkpoint, the bomb exploded. Smith, also a Catholic, died trying to warn colleagues and was awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal posthumously. *

Dominic Troulan Dominic Charles Rupert Troulan, (born 12 December 1962) is a retired British Army officer and former Royal Marine who was awarded the George Cross on 16 June 2017 for his actions during the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya. H ...

. Awarded in May 1996 for service in Northern Ireland. After service in the Royal Marines and British Army, in June 2017 he became the first living British civilian to be awarded the George Cross since 1974 and the first holder of both the George Cross and the QGM. *Stanley MacLeod. Diving Superintendent on the Piper Alpha Oil Platform for leading 19 men to safety after the North Sea structure exploded. *David Michael Groves.

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 ...

sailor on HMS ''

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

''. Awarded on 25 Feb 2020, for the dramatic rescue of 27 mariners from ''

Grande America ''Grande America'' was a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship built by Fincantieri in 1997, owned and operated by Grimaldi Lines, a subsidiary of Grimaldi Group. It sank in the Bay of Biscay in March 2019. Sinking On 10 March 2019, ''Grande America'' ...

'', which caught fire in rough seas in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

. *Leon McLeod. Police Constable, British Transport Police. Awarded in October 2018 for his actions during the

2017 London Bridge attack On 3 June 2017, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London, England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on Borough High Street, just south of the River Thames. The van's three occ ...

*Michael Hooper. Police Sergeant, Leicestershire Police. Awarded in May 2021 for his actions during the helicopter crash outside Leicester City Football club *Stephen Quartermain. Police Constable, Leicestershire Police. Awarded in May 2021 for his actions during the helicopter crash outside Leicester City Football club

References

Sources