STAFF SERGEANT B.S. WILSON, ROYAL MARINES, DIVISIONAL TRAIN, ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION, RECORDED AS ONE OF SEVENTY-TWO ROYAL MARINES AWARDED THE ARMY MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL DURING WW1, AND ONE OF TWELVE ROYAL MARINES AWARDED THE ARMY MSM FOR SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION'S DIVISIONAL TRAIN. Army Meritorious Service Medal, George V, type A, Field Marshal's bust, swiveling suspender (officially impressed: S-1851 S. Sjt. B.S. WILSON. R.MARINES.). Minor edge bruise at 6 o'clock, otherwise attractively toned and Good Very Fine to Almost Extremely Fine.
Medal accompanied by extract from 1911 census, copied service record and London Gazette extract.
Bernard Samuel Wilson was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on 22/6/1888. He is recorded in the 1911 census return as a 22 year old, unmarried office clerk, employed by the Daily Mirror and living at 64 Falconer Road, Bushy, Hertfordshire, with his widowed mother and two brothers. Wilson enlisted into the Royal Marines at Crystal Palace, London, on 28/12/1914. At the time of enlistment he was 26 years old and gave his trade as that of "photography". Promoted Staff Sergeant, 1/1/1915, Wilson arrived at the Base Depot at Etaples, France, on 26/6/1916. From there he was posted for service with the Royal Naval Division's Divisional Train, on 30/6/1916. Wilson saw service exclusively with the Royal Naval Division's Divisional Train during WW1 and was demobilised on 20/4/1919.
Staff Sergeant Wilson's Army Meritorious Service Medal, Royal Marines, was announced in the London Gazette of 17/1/1919 "In recognition of valuable service rendered with the armies in France and Flanders", his home town being given as Sutton. Wilson was also awarded the British War and Victory Medals.
The awarding of Army Meritorious Service Medals to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines was authorised during the closing months of 1916 and began in 1917, in order to recognise n.c.o.'s and men of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines who distinguished themselves whilst serving under army command.
Ian McInnes, in his "The Meritorious Service Medal to Naval Forces", records a total of 119 Army Meritorious Service Medals awarded to Royal Navy and Royal Marine recipients during WW1, with just 72 of those awards being awarded to the Royal Marines. Of these, McInnes records 18 as being awarded, like Wilson, to "Royal Marines", with the remaining 54 being awarded to Royal Marines serving with particular units, including: Artillery (15), Royal Marine Reserve (1), Royal Marine Medical Unit (5), Royal Marine Labour Corps (2) and the First Royal Marines (1).
General Sir H.E. Blumber, in his "Britain's Sea Soldiers", records a total of 174 Meritorious Service Medals of various types being awarded to the Royal Marines during WW1, 1914-1920, including awards for service prior to the 1917 decision to extend the award of the Army MSM to the Royal Marines (Belgium 1914, Gallipoli 1915, etc). Blumber confirms Wilson's MSM as being one of 12 awarded to Royal Marines for service with the Royal Naval Division's Divisional Train.
The "S" prefix to Wilson's service number indicates short service enlistment, for the duration of the war only.
