1914–15 Star
The 1914–15 Star is a campaign medal of the British Empire which was awarded to all who served in the British and Imperial forces in any theatre of the First World War against the Central European Powers during 1914 and 1915. The medal was never awarded singly and recipients also received the British War Medal and Victory Medal.[1]
1914–15 Star
Campaign service
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British and Imperial forces
First World War
December 1918
2,366,000
Institution[edit]
The 1914–15 Star was instituted in December 1918 and was awarded to all who served in the British and Imperial forces against the Central European Powers in any theatre of the Great War between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915, provided they had not already received the 1914 Star. The period of eligibility was prior to the Military Service Act 1916, which introduced conscription in Britain.[1][2][3][4]
The creation of the 1914 Star for the original British Expeditionary Force, who served in France and Flanders up to November 1914, led to demands from the Australian and other dominion governments for medallic recognition for their original contingents who had fought at Gallipoli and elsewhere. This led to a proposed Gallipoli Star, for award to New Zealanders and Australians of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), but not to the British forces serving alongside them. Following protests by British parliamentarians and news media, the Gallipoli Star was never awarded and the 1914–15 Star, with its wider eligibility, instituted instead.[5][6]
No clasp or bar to the medal was approved.[3]
Award criteria[edit]
To be eligible for the medal, a member must have served on the establishment of a unit in a theatre of war during the relevant dates of operations in that theatre.[1][2][3]
Excluded from eligibility, were all those who had already qualified for the award of the 1914 Star, and those who received the Africa General Service Medal or the Khedive's Sudan Medal of 1910 for campaigns from 4 August 1914 to the end of 1915.[2]
Some 2,366,000 medals were awarded to servicemen and supporting personnel of British military forces and the various forces of the British Dominions, India and the Colonies.[7] (Members of the Mercantile Marine qualified only where serving under Royal Naval engagement,[2] as a consequence of signing a T124x agreement.) This medal breakout included:
Like the 1914 Star, the 1914–15 Star was never awarded singly and recipients were also awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. The only difference is that the later award bears '1914-15' on the central scroll instead of '1914'; the ribbon is the same. The three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred after three comic strip characters, a dog, a penguin and a rabbit, which were popular in the immediate post-war era. Pip represented either of the two Stars, Squeak represented the British War Medal and Wilfred represented the Victory Medal.[9][10]