11755 Pte George Albert Brady - 4th City later the 1st City Battalion

[harribobs]

Got hold of my Great Grandfathers Medals today and there was quite a bit with them, they were all contained in a metal tobacco tin the medals were in the original little white boxes and with the ribbons, there was also:

A miniature medal bar, looks like it would go through a button hole.
A Manchester Pals cap badge, solid brass type cap badge
A Manchesters cap badge, the bi metal type with a slider back
2 Brass bars saying - MANCHESTER
2 Brass shoulder titles with City/Manchester/4 on them

fantastic!!  now you have to decide whether to keep them in their boxes or mount them!!

[Ids1984]

My intention is to have the medals cleaned and court mounted with new ribbons, have the original ribbons made into a medal bar and have them framed along with the cap badge and shoulder titles.

Going to speak to the family first though as a few are interested now, they've sat in a draw for the best part of 50 years and now people are interested...  

[Robert Bonner]

Mark.  Your suggestion is quite the best.  Whatever happens don't allow anyone in the family to split them up.  They should always be kept together.

[Ids1984]

Thought I would share...

[Ids1984]

2

[Ids1984]

3

[Ids1984]

On his own and with his family.

[pete th]

Mark, I totally agree with Robert, please keep the medals all safe together. If they become separated they end up on Ebay. You need to ensure that there is a safe line in the family, i.e. whoever gets them from you will care for them and pass on the same sentiment to the next recipient. I collect medals and artifacts which belonged to the men from my area but I would much rather they were held by a family member who cared for them (I would give them back to a family who demonstrated they cared).

By the way, all the ribbons and medals shown in the photo are mixed up. The Victory Medal (bronze/brass colourred) should be with the ribbon on the left (rainbow effect), the star should be with blue, white and red ribbon (the ribbon on the right) and the British War Medal (Silver) should be with the ribbon in the middle (the one with the orange band in the middle).

Also, the brass strip in photo no. 3 is a wound stripe. This would have been worn on the left sleeve of a soldier to signify that they had been wounded in action.

With regard to cleaning, although it is down to personal taste, I would suggest leaving them alone. The tarnish shows the age of the medals.

Please look after them  

Regards
Pete

[Ids1984]

The medals are staying together, even if they end up with another member of my family, if it looks like I'm posting this to find a buyer then that isn't the case, it's purely to share and people here more knowledgeable than myself may spot something I have missed.  I serve and I understand their true value (not money).

I saw the ribbons were out of order but my mother has them at the moment!

I intend the wound stripe to be framed along with the medals, am I right in thinking this would of sat vertically between the wrist and elbow?

I've seen its quite a contested opinion on the cleaning, my medals are plated so they are always shiny but that WILL NOT be happening to these, maybe just a light clean.

Question on the family picture, is the bloke in a uniform in the middle, is it a Military Hospital one? and if so would he of served?

[pete th]

Mark, yes, he's in hospital blue which means he definitely served and was either wounded, sick or injured in some way.

he also has a good conduct strip on his right sleeve and the single stripe signified 2 years good conduct. These were were awarded to Privates and Lance Corporals. Once promoted to Corporal (2nd Corporal before 1920) they had to be removed.

Cheers

Pete

[Ids1984]

Thanks Pete, think I've just found another family member to research.

[pete th]

Mark, with regard to the wound stripe, it was worn on the left hand sleeve. The first two photos on the below link (my great grandmother's brother) show how it was worn:

http://themanchesters.org/forum/index.php?topic=898.0

Cheers
Pete

[Ids1984]

Mark, yes, he's in hospital blue which means he definitely served and was either wounded, sick or injured in some way.

he also has a good conduct strip on his right sleeve and the single stripe signified 2 years good conduct. These were were awarded to Privates and Lance Corporals. Once promoted to Corporal (2nd Corporal before 1920) they had to be removed.

Cheers

Pete

Thanks, I struggling to see the stripe though, i'm also struggling to find any information of military service for him - Henry Brady 1897 - 1948 lived in Swinton, Lancashire now Greater Manchester.

Thank you for the wounded stripe picture .

[pete th]

Mark, sorry I confused things. It's George that has the Good Conduct Stripe (inverted stripe on his left sleeve).

Cheers
Pete

[pete th]

Mark, there are 17 Henry Brady's listed on the medal index cards:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results.asp?searchtype=browserefine&query=first_name%3dhenry|last_name%3dbrady&catid=10&pagenumber=1&querytype=1&mediaarray=*

Hope this helps
Pete