Historical information

The Victory Medal (also called the Allied Victory Medal) is a campaign medal - of which the basic design and ribbon was adopted by Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Siam, Union of South Africa and the USA. The medal was issued to all those who received the 1914 Star or the 1914-15 Star, and to most of those who were awarded the British War Medal - it was never awarded singly. These three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.

Significance

The Holgate medals were the first war medals held by BCC archives. They have historical and social significance for the College.

Physical description

The Victory Medal is a 36mm diameter circular copper medal, lacquered in bronze. The obverse shows the winged, full-length, full-front, figure of Victory, with her left arm extended and holding a palm branch in her right hand.
The reverse has the words ‘THE GREAT / WAR FOR / CIVILISATION / 1914-1919' in four lines, all surrounded by a laurel wreath.
The 39mm wide ribbon has a ‘two rainbow' design, with the violet from each rainbow on the outside edges moving through to a central red stripe where both rainbows meet.

Inscriptions & markings

The reverse has the words ‘THE GREAT / WAR FOR / CIVILISATION / 1914-1919' in four lines