NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL.
SULTAN'S MEDAL FOR ACRE.
(Obverse.)
NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL.
The Naval General Service Medal.—Two hundred and thirty bars were issued with the medal, which bore upon the obverse the bust of Queen Victoria, as on the Military General Service medal, and the legend VICTORIA REGINA, with the date 1848 below, and on the reverse a figure of Britannia seated upon a sea-horse holding in her right hand a trident, and in the left an olive branch. The medal, by Wyon, is suspended by a straight clasp from a white ribbon with blue edges, and the recipient's name is impressed upon the edge of the medal in Roman capitals of the same character as those used for the M.G.S. medal. Officers and warrant officers only had their rank described, and in the arrangement of the bars the first action was placed nearest the medal. Although so many bars were issued with the medal, six is the most awarded to any one man. Dr. Payne has in his collection two with five bars; one awarded to Thos. Hewitt, midshipman, for 1 JUNE 1794—12 OCTR 1798—4 FEB BOAT SERVICE 1804—CENTAUR 26 AUGT 180'—ALGIERS, and another awarded to Capt. (afterwards Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas) Ussher, Kt., C.B., K.C.H., illustrated facing page [284], which also includes 1 JUNE 1794—REDWING 7 MAY 1808—REDWING 31ST MAY 1808—MAGALA 29TH APRIL 1812—2 MAY BOAT SERVICE 1813. This is a particularly rare set of bars, for only seven of the second were issued, five of the third, seven of the fourth, and forty-nine of the fifth.