King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

Allied Victory Medal 1914-1919

Face
The full length, winged figure of Victory standing with her left arm extended and holding a palm branch in her right hand.

Reverse
A wreath encircling the inscription “THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION 1914 - 1919”  The inscription underlined by a row of nine dots.

Size
Approx. 36 mm diameter

Composition
Bronze

Ribbon
Approx. 38 mm wide and watered.  The colours of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, reading out from the centre in each direction. 

Suspension
The ribbon passes through a ring of approx. 14 mm diameter which passes through a 5 mm wide loop fixed to the top of the medal.  The ring moves forwards and backwards only.

Naming
In indented block capitals, sometimes rather faint, on the edge of the medal.  Medals to officers do not give the name of their regiment.  Other ranks' medals give number, rank, name and regiment or corps.

Bars
None.  Recipients who were mentioned in despatches were permitted to wear an oak leaf emblem on the ribbon.

Awarded
The medal was awarded to all who qualified for the 1914 Star or the 1914-15 Star, and, with certain exceptions, to all who qualified for the British War Medal.  The Allied Victory Medal was never awarded alone.  Qualification for the award lay in having been mobilised in any of the fighting services and in having served in any of the Theatres of War (e.g. France and Flanders, Gallipoli, Salonika, Mesopotamia, Italy, etc.) or at seas, between 4th August 1914 and 11 November 1918.  Qualification also extended to women who served in any of the Theatres of War in the various supporting organisations such as the Woman’s Army Auxiliary Corps, or the Nursing Services and charitable bodies of various kinds who also gave support.

Most of the Allied Governments awarded the medal in the same way to their servicemen and supporting auxiliaries.  Their medals were generally of the same basic pattern, excepting Japan who replaced the figure of Victory with a warrior bearing a spear.  In all cases, however, the medal ribbon was a pattern of the colours of the rainbow.

The King’s Own
All men of the Regiment who entered one of the designated Theatres of War qualified for the medal.  Allied Victory Medals to men of The King’s Own can be recognised by the naming on the edge: e.g.  17253 PTE. J. NICHOL. R. LANC. R.

R. LANC. R. being the shortened version of the Regimental title at that time.  Probably around 40,000 Allied Victory Medals were issued bearing the R. LANC. R. title, and around 4,000 were issued to officers of the Regiment, these of course not bearing the Regimental Title.

Allied Victory Medals in the museum's collection 

Allied Victory Medal