Army Medal Roll

After the First World War service men and woman and some civilians were awarded up to three general service medals. These were in addition to any awarded for conspicuous bravery or especially distinguished conduct. The set of three medals was referred to somewhat irreverently as Pip, Squeak & Wilfred after three contemporary cartoon characters. There's a brief summary of who was eligible for these medals here.

All three medals had the recipient’s name, unit and service number stamped onto them. These are usually essential if you want to find out more.

Administration of these awards was a colossal task - over 6 million British War Medals were issued - and the Army maintained a card index to facilitate this. For over 60% of soldiers these cards and the associated medal rolls are the only remaining record of their wartime service. Their service records were destroyed by enemy action in the Second World War. These cards will list all the regiments or corps that the soldier served with and for those who can decipher the army's shorthand there's sometimes other information on the cards. If the soldier received either the 1914 (or Mons Star) or the 1914/15 Star the name of the theatre he served in and the date that he arrived there are also given.

Listed below are all the Rudram, Rudrum, Rudderham or Ruderham who have medal roll index cards. A few have cards but do not appear to have been awarded any medals. 13 out of 65 (20%) of these men were awarded the 1914/15 Star but none of the soldiers was eligble for the Mons Star. The Roll number can be used to identify the actual medal roll and it is possible to order a copy from TNA for which you'll also need the page number. There are seperate rolls for the 1914/15 Star and these men have an additional line with the details of those records.

The Record Cards , Medal Rolls and remaining service records are in The National Archives (TNA) in London. The record cards can also be seen (for a fee) on the TNA website.