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Recommendations for Honours and Awards 1935 - 1990

You can now search and download recommendations for honours and awards to British army personnel and those of the dominions. This collection also contains details of some awards to members of the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Marines (RM) and Royal Air Force (RAF), and of decorations exchanged between British and allied armies. This completes a joint project by The National Archives and the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Use the links below to jump to the topics you are interested in.

Introduction

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World War Two Allied forces (Cat. ref. INF 2/3)

This collection holds the recommendations for the Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal and a very few Mentions in Despatches from 1938. During the Second World War, some members of the RN, the RAF, the RM and the Home Guard also received Army awards.

With the exception of Mentions in Despatches, for which very few recommendations survive, awards were made under the statute or royal warrant of the order or decoration concerned. Commanders-in-Chief in the field were usually given powers to make awards within a "scale". This scale was based on the number of troops under command over a given period. It was not unusual for recommendations to be altered to reflect senior commanders' views, either on the level of award or whether the award should be for gallantry in the face of the enemy or for "meritorious service" (that is, not in the face of the enemy).

It is unusual for files relating to honours and awards announced prior to 1950 to have survived; those that have are included here.

There was always a delay between the deed, the actual award of the medal and publication in the London Gazette. So the date range given for some items can refer to the date that the award was announced in the London Gazette, or the date of the action or deed which earned the award.

Prior to 1979 only the Victoria Cross and George Cross or a Mention in Despatches could be awarded posthumously.

Recommendations found in WO 373

The awards available to the armed forces were revised and reconstituted between 1993 and 1999. The brief descriptions which follow are based on the system in force before 1993.

WO 373 contains recommendations resulting in the following awards:

The Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) was awarded to warrant and non-commissioned ranks for gallantry in action against the enemy.

The Royal Red Cross is available in two classes, Member (RRC) and Associate (ARRC) and is restricted to the Nursing Services of the armed forces. Award of the RRC is to more senior officers.

The Burma Gallantry Medal was awarded to the Governor's Commissioned Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and other ranks of the Burma military, frontier and military police forces for acts of personal bravery in peace or on active service.

The Indian Order of Merit is awarded for gallantry in battle displayed by members of the Indian Army. The Indian Distinguished Service Medal is awarded to Indian citizens in the forces for distinguished service.

Searching the records

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You can search on any or all of the following:

For some records the date will refer to the date of announcement in the London Gazette; for others it refers to the date of the action or deed which earned the award.

You should also be aware that in some cases the record will consist only of listings. This is where the individual did not receive the award or the details of the circumstances have not survived (these particular documents may be downloaded free-of-charge).

Miscellaneous Images

The 'miscellaneous images' associated with each piece do not contains citations, but are related material. They appear to be paperwork created as part of the administrative process associated with awarding honours. We have included these records to ensure that the complete series is available online.

 

What could these records help me to discover?

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A typical example

Very often you will find Army Form W3121 gives details of the action or deed which earned the award. You can see an example by clicking on the image on the right. The action was described:

"On 2nd March 45 in the Field Lieut. AVTAR SINGH was detailed as F.O.O. (Field Operations Officer) with (the) leading company A of the 4/12 F.F.R. (Frontier Force Rifles) during the operations which led to the capture of MEIKTILA. The enemy had mined the town very thoroughly and numerous snipers were active. An enemy gun opened fire as they neared the railway crossing and knocked out one Sherman tank. Lieut. AVTAR SINGH brought down a concentration which temporarily neutralised the gun. When, later, the gun opened fire again, in spite of the heavy sniping, L.M.G. (Light Machine Gun) and M.M.G. (Maxi Machine Gun) fire and bursting mines, Lieut. AVTAR SINGH climbed up into an adjoining house and brought down another concentration on the area where the gun flash was seen. This enabled the Tank Squadron Commander who was near him, to move to a position from which the gun could be engaged directly with fire from the Tank's 75mm gun, and the enemy gun was finally silenced.
By his initiative, disregard of danger appreciation of the urgency of the situation and accurate shooting he definitely aided the"Cleaning up" operation and very materially speeded up the conclusion of the battle of MEIKTILA. "

AVTAR SINGH was recommended for the Military Cross. This was approved and details were published in the London Gazette of 13 July 1945.

Airey Neave

The second example shows details from the record of Airey Neave who became the first British officer to escape from the maximum security prison Oflag IV-C, at Colditz Castle, and return to Britain. He had been sent to Colditz after a thwarted attempt to break out from Stalag XXA in Poland.

Neave first tried to escape from Colditz in August 1941. His adapted RAF tunic was an ineffective diguise and he was stopped before he could leave the castle. In January 1942 he and Anthony Luteyn, a Dutch Officer, made a swift exit from a theatrical production by using the stage trapdoor. Neave's "home-run" took him through Switzerland, France, Spain and Gibraltar. Shortly after his return to Britain MI9 recruited him, giving him the code name "Saturday". MI9, a branch of MI6, supported Resistance fighters who operated escape lines for POWs and aircrew evading capture after being shot down. After the war, Neave joined the Nuremberg War Crimes team. In addition to the Military Cross he was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Croix de Guerre, the US bronze star, and the order of Orange Nassau. He was mentioned in dispatches for gallantry and later, in 1947, he was awarded the military OBE. Neave wrote about his war experiences in a number of books including The Flames of Calais: A Soldier's Battle 1940, Saturday at M19: A history of underground escape lines in North-West Europe in 1940-1945 and Nuremberg: A personal record of the trial of the major Nazi war criminals in 1945-1946. He was Conservative MP for Abingdon, 1953 - 1979, chairing the All Party Select Committee on Science and Technology. Airey Neave was killed by an INLA car bomb outside the House of Commons on 30 March 1979.

Oliver Philpot

The final example is an unusual one. It comes from the record of Oliver Philpot of Bomber Command who took part in one of the most celebrated escapes of World War Two.

Stalag Luft III was expected to be one of the most secure prison camps. It was built on loose, sandy soil which would be difficult to tunnel into. The camp was surrounded by a double fence with manned guard towers, spotlights and razor wire, and seismographs were installed to pick up movement. It was also assumed that the POWs would be unable to tunnel to freedom because their huts were 50 to 100 metres from the perimeter wire. And even if someone did manage to escape, Stalag Luft III was located over 600km from Switzerland and nearly 300km from the ports that led to Sweden.

During 1942 nearly 40 unsuccessful tunnel schemes were started in the East Compound. In 1943 Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams devised an ingenious plan. A wooden vaulting horse was placed at the same spot every day, only 30 metres from the fence. Prisoners exercised on the wooden horse while Williams, Lieutenant Michael Codner and Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot were digging from a trap door hidden underneath. Using bowls, the three men were able to dig a cramped escape tunnel and three months later, on the evening of 29 October, they escaped. Philpot reached Danzig in a day and he stowed away on a Swedish ship on 1 November. Three days later he arrived in Stockholm. Meanwhile Williams and Codner travelled to the port of Stettin and stowed away on a Danish ship, the Norensen. All were repatriated back to Britain. They were the only men to make successful "home runs" from the East Compound. Philpot wrote about the escape in Stolen Journey. Williams's book The Wooden Horse was the basis for the 1950 film of the same name. Williams also wrote the screenplay for The Wooden Horse.

Further information

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The Victoria Cross Registers are held in the series WO 98. You can search and download entries from DocumentsOnline - find out more about the Victoria Cross Registers.

You can see the medal rolls at The National Archives:

The original Military Medal rolls are held at The National Archives in WO 326 but please note that these records are incomplete.

If you are trying to claim or replace medals write to:

The National Archives Bookshop

If you would like to read more, these books are available from The National Archives bookshop:

Useful Links

Click on the links to see these free National Archives research guides:

The Art of War is a National Archives online exhibition. The section on Valour and Gallantry illustrates some of the individual acts of heroism which led to the award of the Victoria Cross and the George Cross.

The London Gazette, the official Crown newspaper, can be accessed online at www.gazettes-online.co.uk.

The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency offers advice on claiming and replacing campaign medals.

The Uniforms, Badges and Medals department of the National Army Museum holds over 20,000 medals, including 37 Victoria Crosses and one of the earliest VC castings.

The news section of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/home website includes those personnel honoured in the New Year and Birthday Honours Lists, and other awards, as they are published.

You can read about the British Honours system at www.honours.gov.uk.