The Saint Helena Medal (french: Médaille de Sainte-Hélène) was the first French

campaign medal A campaign medal is a military decoration which is awarded to a member of an armed force who serves in a designated military operation or performs duty in a geographical theater. Campaign medals are very similar to service medals but carry a high ...

. It was established in 1857 by a decree of emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

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 The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

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 The Fondation Napoléon is a foundation, registered as a French non-profit organization (reconnue d'utilité publique) on November 12, 1987. It's mission is to encourage and support study and interest in the history of the First and Second French E ...

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 An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

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 An Imperial Crown is a crown used for the coronation of emperors. Design Crowns in Europe during the Middle Ages varied in design: During the Middle Ages the crowns worn by English kings had been described as both closed (or arched) and op ...

. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

of the medallion bears the relief image of the right profile of

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

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 A privy mark was originally a small mark or differentiation in the design of a coin for the purpose of identifying the mint, moneyer, some other aspect of the coin's origin, or to prevent counterfeiting. One of the first instances of a privy mar ...

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 Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1 ...

Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant, 1st Comte Vaillant (6 December 1790 – 4 June 1872), born in Dijon, was a Marshal of France. Vaillant entered the French army in 1809 in the corps of engineers. He served in the French invasion of Russia (18 ...

*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 Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pélissier, 1st Duc de Malakoff (6 November 179422 May 1864), was a Marshal of France. He served in Algeria and elsewhere, and as a general commanded the French forces in the Crimean War. Biography Pélissier was born at Ma ...

*Admiral

Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin Ferdinand-Alphonse Hamelin (2 September 1796 – 10 January 1864), French admiral, was born in Pont-l'Évêque, Normandy. He was the nephew of Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, a successful rear admiral in the French Navy of the Napoleonic era. ...

*General Mathieu Brialmont *Engineer general Jacques, comte Mallet *General Émile Herbillon *General Aristide de La Ruë *General

Charles Oudinot Lieutenant-General Charles Nicolas Victor Oudinot, 2nd Duc de Reggio (3 November 1791 in Bar-le-Duc – 7 June 1863 in Bar-le-Duc), the eldest son of Napoleon I's marshal Nicolas Oudinot and Charlotte Derlin, also made a military career. He serve ...

*General

Teodoro Lechi Teodoro Lechi (Brescia, 16 January 1778 – Milan, 2 May 1866) was an Italian general, a Jacobin and a military advisor to King Carlo Alberto of Sardinia. He was the brother of Giuseppe Lechi, a brilliant and famous Napoleonic general, and Angel ...

*General François Martineau des Chesnez *General Anne Charles Lebrun *General Émile Mellinet *General

Casimir-Louis-Victurnien de Rochechouart de Mortemart Casimir de Rochechouart, 11th Duke of Mortemart (''Casimir Louis Victurnien''; 20 March 1787, Paris – 1 January 1875, Neauphle-le-Vieux), prince of Tonnay-Charente, then Baron of Mortemart and of the Empire, 11th duke of Mortemart and peer of ...

*General

Albert Joseph Goblet d'Alviella Albert Joseph, Count Goblet d'Alviella (26 May 1790 – 5 May 1873) was an officer in the army of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. After the Belgian Revolution, he became a politician and served as the prime minister of Belgium. Career B ...

*General Vivant-Jean Brunet-Denon *General

Tomasz Łubieński Tomasz Andrzej Adam Łubieński, comte de Pomian (24 December 1784, Szczytniki near Kalisz - 27 August 1870, Warsaw) was a brigadier general in the Polish army, senator, landowner in Kalisz and businessman. Hoping to liberate Poland, he fought o ...

*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 Louis-François-Marie-Nicolas Le Goarant de Tromelin (January 11, 1786 in Morbihan, Gavrin – 1867), was a nineteenth-century French Naval admiral, sent to the Pacific Ocean on political and military missions, and credited with the discovery ...

*Colonel Louis Auguste de Bourbel de Montpinçon *Lieutenant colonel

Louis-Casimir Teyssier Louis-Casimir Teyssier (1821 in Albi – 1916 at Albi) was a French commander. Life He was recruited to the 21st regiment. As a lieutenant, he was wounded in Crimea, near Sevastopol and made a prisoner. He was released in December 15, 1855. made ...

*Commander Joseph Toussaint Bernard *Major Étienne Desjoyeaux *Captain Jean-Joseph Charlier *Captain Amédée de Bast *Captain Claude Noisot *Imperial Guard Officer Martin Marie Benard

Civilian

*Doctor François-Joseph Cazin *

Pierre François Dumont Pierre François Dumont (12 January 1789 – 27 July 1864) was a French industrialist involved in mining and iron making in the Nord department. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies during the July Monarchy. Early years Pierre François Dumo ...

(1789–1864), French industrialist *

Marcellin Jobard Jean-Baptiste-Ambroise-Marcellin Jobard (17 May 1792 – 27 October 1861) was a Belgian lithographer, photographer and inventor of French origin. Founder of the first significant Belgian lithographic establishment, first photographer in Belgium ...

* Nicolas Savin

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