(This is an updated version of a previous post from 2019.) Some time ago as I was working through one of the registers in my Royal Signals honours and awards project, I came across an anomaly. The obituary in The Wire for Major General A. C. Fuller C.B.E.—the inventor of the Fullerphone—records that he was mentioned in despatches four times and that he did not receive the Victory Medal. These statements are at odds—if he did not serve in a theatre of war he could not have been mentioned in despatches. There are some exceptions to that statement, but Experimental Officers at the Signals Experimental Establishment were not amongst them. A little more digging revealed that these were ‘class ‘B’ mentions’ for ‘valuable services in connection with the war’. I was unable to track them down easily, however, and this post is the result of my research into where such awards may be found.

An extract from War Office List of 23 August 1919 showing Scottish officers. (The Courier, 23 August 1919.)

Meritorious service by military personnel and civilians at home was recognised largely only in the latter years of the war, primarily by the various grades of the Order of the British Empire, created in June 1917. In addition, a lower category of commendation, broadly the equivalent of a mention in despatches, was awarded to those who were brought to notice for ‘valuable services’. They are often referred to as ‘class ‘B’ mentions’. Most were for service in the United Kingdom, but some awards were made for service in the Dominions and Colonies. They were usually awarded in the name of the Secretary of State for War but several were attributed to the Home Secretary.^[1]

Although the War Office, Air Ministry and Home Office lists, or communiqués, were described as supplements to the London Gazette, they did not appear in the Gazette but were instead provided to the press for publication. Extracts may be found in regional newspapers, often highlighting the work of local recipients with short citations, but The Times became seen as the ‘official’ avenue of publication because it featured the full lists. The first War Office communiqué appeared in February 1917 and the last in June 1920. Similar lists were announced by the Admiralty, although they do not appear to have been published by The Times in the same way.^[2]

Several lists were not published in The Times. Inexplicably, the list of 23 August 1919—Army officers and other ranks rewarded for service in departments of the War Office—was published in full only in The Daily Telegraph, and the accompanying (very large) list of 28 August—for service in the commands and districts of Home Forces—was only published in part; again it was published in full in The Daily Telegraph. Of the five communiqués in 1920, only two were published in full. Three lists, amounting to around 2,200 names, were announced in The Times in a short paragraph but without any accompanying names. It appears that the press quickly lost interest in these rewards for service because those in the final list do not even appear in regional newspapers. Continue reading →