New Home for Great War Medallion
Since they were discovered in the Town Council’s office, the Museum has been holding 17 medallions for the Council. Medallions were presented to all those Bradford citizens who had served in the forces in the Great War, but these had apparently not found their way to the named person in 1919.
At the beginning of this year’s Annual General Meeting one of them finally reached a member of the family. Chris Day, of Market Rasen in Lincolnshire quite by chance recognised the name of his great-uncle amongst the list of outstanding medallions in the Wiltshire Family History Society’s magazine. Frederick Allen died at the Battle of Loos on 25th September 1915 at the age of 22, so didn’t live to accept his medallion. The town’s Mayor Isabel Martindale was able to present the medallion, 92 years later than intended, at a ceremony in the Museum.
The medallion belonged to the Town Council and was not an item from the Museum’s own collection.
The bronze medallions are believed to have been designed by Miriam Christopher, the wife of Richard, the owner of the chemist shop which is now in the Museum.