The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the

Sovereign of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal, and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904.

History

Arctic Medal

The first medal was awarded in 1857, named the Arctic Medal. The Admiralty issued the medal for several expeditions, including the expedition to discover the fate of

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

and his crew, who were lost while looking for the Northwest Passage in 1847:

Her Majesty having been graciously pleased to signify her commands that a Medal be granted to all persons, of every rank and class, who have been engaged in the several Expeditions to the
Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
Regions, whether of discovery or search, between the years 1818 and 1855, both inclusive.

The second presentation of the Arctic Medal was to the crews of three ships exploring the Arctic in 1875–76.

Polar Medal

In 1904, the medal was awarded to the members of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's first expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, and therefore renamed the Polar Medal. It was also awarded to the crews of both rescue ships, '' Terra Nova'' and ''

Morning Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning s ...

''. Subsequent medals were awarded to members of

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...

's expeditions in 1907–09 and 1914–17.

Eligibility

The Polar Medal is awarded to individuals for outstanding service to the field of polar research. Until 1968, the Polar Medal was presented to anyone who participated in a polar expedition endorsed by the governments of any Commonwealth realms. However, since 1968 the rules governing its presentation have been revised with greater emphasis placed on personal achievement. Since 1998, the criteria for being awarded a Polar Medal are:

The period of service living and working in the arduous conditions of a Polar environment required to be considered for this Medal shall normally be not less than twelve months, shorter periods of service may be aggregated to meet this criterion. Service in the support of the acquisition of knowledge of Polar regions shall normally be at least ten years' such service in order to be considered for the Medal, although, in exceptional cases, a shorter period of outstanding service may be considered.

The award is primarily given to citizens of the United Kingdom. However, citizens of Commonwealth countries can be honoured. Nominees for the Polar Medal are made on the advice of the Polar Medal Assessment Committee, who make recommendations to the monarch via the

secretary of state for defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

Medals awarded

By 2005, a total of 880 silver had been issued for Antarctic expeditions. Another 73 silver medals had been issued for service in the Arctic. Prior to all awarded medals becoming silver in 1939, 271 bronze medals and clasps were awarded.

Female recipients

The first woman to be awarded the Polar Medal was Ginny Fiennes in 1986. Other female Polar Medal recipients include: * Elizabeth Harland, awarded the Polar Medal in 1997. *

Jane Francis Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she also was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth ...

, 2002. *

Margaret Bradshaw Margaret Ann Bradshaw (née Cresswell; born 31 December 1941) is a New Zealand geologist and a retired staff member at the University of Canterbury. She is considered a trailblazer and influential female role model in Antarctic research. E ...

, 2003. *

Elizabeth Morris Elizabeth Morris (or variants) may refer to: Actresses *Libby Morris, Canadian actress *Beth Morris, British actress *Liz Morris, actress in ''Jaws 3-D ''Jaws 3-D'' (titled ''Jaws III'' in its 2-D form) is a 1983 American thriller film directed ...

, 2003. *

Tavi Murray Tavi Murray, is a glaciologist, the eighth woman to be awarded the Polar Medal. Education After school in Twickenham Murray gained a BSc degree with first class honours in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Wales, Aberystwyt ...

, 2006. * Victoria Auld, 2007. * Penelope Granger, 2008. *

Felicity Aston Felicity Ann Dawn Aston (born 7 October 1977) is a British explorer, author and former climate scientist. Early life and career Originally from Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, Aston went to Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls and was educated at U ...

, 2015. *

Sally Poncet Sally Poncet (born 1954) is an Australian-born scientist and adventurer who has explored and studied the Antarctic region since 1977. Her specialty is birds and she made extensive studies of albatross and their habitats for the British Antarc ...

, 2015. *

Kim Crosbie Kim Crosbie is a former Executive Director of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and has been working in the polar regions since 1991. Early life and education Crosbie is from Edinburgh, Scotland, and she co ...

, 2016. *

Agnieszka Fryckowska Agnieszka Fryckowska is a New Zealand meteorologist and Antarctic base manager who has worked with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Fryckowska has spent five winters in Antarctica. She is currently training to be a pilot in Northumberland. ...

, 2016. *

Myrtle Simpson Myrtle Lillias Simpson (née Emslie; born around 1930) is a Scottish skier and the tenth woman to receive the Polar Medal. She has been called the "mother of Scottish skiing". She was the first woman to ski across Greenland on an unsupported expe ...

, 2017. * Isabelle Gerrard, 2017. *

Catrin Thomas Catrin Thomas (born 5 October 1964) from Caernarfon, Wales, is a British ski mountaineer and mountain climber. At the 2011 World Championship of Ski Mountaineering, she participated amongst others in the women's relay team (together with the tw ...

, 2019. * Sophie Fieldin, 2019. * Alison Massey, 2020. * Melody Clark, 2021.

Design

The medal is octagonal in shape with a white ribbon. The reverse of the original Arctic Medal showed a three-masted ship surrounded by ice floes. The die for the medal was engraved by

Leonard Charles Wyon Leonard Charles Wyon (23 November 1826 – 20 August 1891) was a British engraver of the Victorian era most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and the bronze coinage of ...

. A new design by

Ernest Gillick Ernest George Gillick (19 November 1874 – 25 September 1951) was a British sculptor. Life Gillick was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, on 19 November 1874, the son of a tailor. The family moved to Nottingham, where Gillick was apprenticed as a d ...

was used from 1904, showing RRS ''Discovery'', with a sledging party in the foreground. The obverse bears a portrait of the reigning monarch. It is accompanied by a clasp that is placed on the ribbon of the medal in order to signify which region or regions service was completed. The medal was originally struck in both silver and bronze. Since 1939, all awarded medals have been silver; bronze medals were presented to personnel on relief ships for Antarctic expeditions, but not awarded to participants of Arctic expeditions.

Clasps

Additional clasps can be awarded for further service to polar research and exploration. Several people have been awarded additional clasps, including

Sir Ranulph Fiennes Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records. Fiennes served in the ...

, who is the only person to have received a clasp each for both the Arctic and Antarctica.

Frank Wild John Robert Francis Wild (18 April 1873 – 19 August 1939), known as Frank Wild, was an English sailor and explorer. He participated in five expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, for which he was awar ...

and

Ernest Joyce Ernest Edward Mills Joyce AM ( – 2 May 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and explorer who participated in four Antarctic expeditions during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, in the early 20th century. He served under both Robert Falcon ...

hold the joint record of four clasps on their Polar Medal.

Australia

The Government of Australia replaced the Polar Medal with its own Australian Antarctic Medal in 1987.

Canada

The medal was awarded to members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ship '' St. Roch'', who patrolled extensively in the western Arctic (1940) and completed a west-to-east passage of the Arctic in 1942. Although several Canadians had received this medal, it was not included in the Canadian Honours System that was promulgated in 1967. Subsequently, a Canadian decoration intended to honour explorers of Canada's polar regions and defenders of the country's sovereignty in the north was initially conceived by Governor General

Adrienne Clarkson Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 19 ...

as the Governor General's Northern Medal and created on 15 September 2005, to award those who serve with distinction in northern Canada. It was replaced on 23 June 2015 by Canada's own

Polar Medal The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It ...

New Zealand

In 1996, when

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 ...

revised its royal honours system, New Zealanders ceased to receive the Polar Medal. It was proposed that the medal would be preserved, with a new name, under New Zealand regulations: the New Zealand Antarctic Medal. The rationale for the renaming was that it is in relation to Antarctica that New Zealand's endeavours and achievements have been made. The report on honours that recommended the change contained the inaccurate claim that the medal was named after the North Pole. The new medal was formally instituted by the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

on 1 September 2006.

References

Bibliography

* *Poulsom, Neville, W, and Myres, J.A.L., (2000). British Polar Exploration and Research: A Historical and Medallic Record with Biographies, 1818–1999. Savannah Publications, London. . {{Orders, decorations, and medals of Australia before 1992 Civil awards and decorations of the United Kingdom Awards for polar exploration 1857 establishments in the United Kingdom