TOPIC:

Meurig
Thanks for that. I am not now a member of the BMF (I got put off because I was not making enough posts - gulp) so I reckon a combination of QSA and QM is highly unlikely. I have, however, seen a no bar QSA to a chap who was doing POW guard duty somewhere and I would have thought it would have been a QM. I will have a trawl and see if I can locate the item; is/was in a Dealer's list. I suppose that only the Militia Bns were given the QM?
Regards
IL.

Ian,

According to the rolls, men of the 3rd and 5th Battalions received the Mediterranean Medal which equates to yes, only the militia. Several pages of the WYR roll are titled 'Militia' with one being called 'Permanent staff'.

Best wishes
David

I have been trying to find the announcement of the Mediterranean Medal to see what restrictions accompanied its issue. But so far, I cannot locate the announcement. I will keep looking ...

LinneyI wrote: Meurig
Thanks for that. I am not now a member of the BMF (I got put off because I was not making enough posts - gulp) so I reckon a combination of QSA and QM is highly unlikely. I have, however, seen a no bar QSA to a chap who was doing POW guard duty somewhere and I would have thought it would have been a QM. I will have a trawl and see if I can locate the item; is/was in a Dealer's list. I suppose that only the Militia Bns were given the QM?
Regards
IL.

Regular & militia battalions did POW guard duty on Bermuda, St Helena, India & Ceylon (Sri Lanka) - curiously only service on St Helena qualified for the QSA.

The militia bns that qualified for the QM were replacing regular bns so they could go to SA.

Despite what you might read on a dealer's site today - QSAs for POW guard duty are not rare.

Regards
Meurig

My thoughts are that the Mediterranean Medal could not be awarded alongside a QSA. If the man served in South Africa before or after gaining entitlement to the Mediterranean Medal, I think the QSA would be awarded.

This from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Militia units which volunteered and were sent to Mediterranean stations to release the regulars for field service were awarded (Feb. 1902) the medal without clasp, "Mediterranean" being substituted for "South Africa" on the reverse. This was not, of course, issued to any one entitled to the Queen's Medal for South Africa.