A medal .... the bombardment of Scarborough ..... and a newspaper

 Now most of us will equate medals with acts of bravery in the field, and if pushed will acknowledge that many were issued in recognition of wartime service and in particular indicated theatres of war.

But medals were struck for all sorts of service, including work and notable achievements in a whole range of activities.

And that brings me to this medal, which has just been acquired by my old chum David Harrop, who told me that “It's very rare, I've never seen one with the ribbon”.

It dates from 1914 and commemorates the “Bombardment of Scarborough & Non Combatant’s by the German Fleet”.

All of which made sense, given that the shelling of Scarborough,  Hartlepool, West Hartlepool and Whitby, shocked the nation.   

This was only months after the Great War had begun and long before the awful casualties which would stack up during the great battles on the Western Front and elsewhere.

“The German ships fired 1,150 shells into Hartlepool, striking targets including the steelworks, gasworks, railways, seven churches and 300 houses. 

People fled the town by road and attempted to do so by train; 86 civilians were killed and 424 injured, 122 killed and 443 wounded according to Arthur Marder in 1965

Seven soldiers were killed and 14 injured. The death of Private Theophilus Jones of the Durham Light Infantry, age 29, was the first death of a British soldier from enemy action on British soil for 200 years. Eight German sailors were killed and 12 wounded”.*

So, not unsurprisingly it was the focus for many newspaper stories and picture postcards.

But what makes our medal a littler different, is that according to David it was produced by the Mercury newspaper, and was sold as a commemorative souvenir.

Which some might reflect was an interesting take on patriotism and manipulating the event to enhance propaganda.  

But plenty of people also bought into miniature porcelain figures of tanks, battleships, and ambulances, and many more into special editions of newspapers and magazines focusing on aspects of the war.

Location; Scarborough

Picture; the Scarborough medal, 1914, courtesy of David Harrop

* Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Scarborough,_Hartlepool_and_Whitby