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The 1914 Star

The 1914 Star

Overview

The 1914 Star was the first of a series instituted between 1917 and 1919 to recognise service in the First World War (1914-1918). It was awarded for service in Belgium and France between 5 August 1914 and 22 November 1914.

Description

The 1914 Star is a crowned four-pointed star with crossed swords and a wreath of oak leaves, with the royal cypher at the foot and a central scroll inscribed "AUG NOV 1914". On the reverse of the 1914 Star is the inscribed name and service details of the recipient. The medal is bronze and is attached to the ribbon by a ring.

The ribbon is watered silk with red, white and blue stripes. This is the same ribbon as that worn on the 1914-15 Star.

One clasp was issued bearing the dates "5th Aug.- 22nd Nov. 1914", to those who had actually been under fire in Belgium and France in this period. This is the first medal for which the clasp was sewn onto the medal ribbon. When ribbons only were worn on military uniform, a rosette was worn on the ribbon for the 1914 Star, to denote the award of this clasp.

Eligibility

Personnel who saw service in France and Flanders between 5 August and 22 November 1914.

Recipients

Throughout the British Empire more than 400,000 1914 Stars were awarded. Only four awards to New Zealand military personnel are known: two to New Zealand nurses and two to New Zealand army officers attached to British forces in the United Kingdom at the outbreak of the war (Colonel Richard Hutton Davies and Major George Spafford Richardson - both officers were later promoted to the rank of Major-General).

Queries & requests

  • Related publications

    For information on the careers of Major-General Richard Hutton Davies and Major-General Sir George Spafford Richardson see The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History, edited by Ian McGibbon (published in 2000), pp.133-134 and 450, respectively.

    For more information about First World War medals the following books are recommended:

    • Alec A. Purves. The Medals, Decorations and Orders of the Great War 1914-1918. 2nd revised edition (1989)
    • Captain H. Taprell Dorling. Ribbons and Medals. 20th edition (1983). Edited and revised by Alec A. Purves

  • Wearing this medal

    The 1914 Star is worn as a war medal in the New Zealand Order of Wear.  First World War Medals are worn in the following order:

    • The 1914 Star
    • The 1914-15 Star
    • The British War Medal
    • The Mercantile Marine War Medal
    • The Victory Medal

    For more information on how to wear and care for honours, medals, and awards:

  • Checking eligibility and applying for this medal

    Most First World War medals have been issued to service members or their descendants.  NZDF Personnel Archives and Medals (PAM) holds only a few remaining  First World War medals. 

  • Checking if this medal was issued

    Most of the war medals for service in the First World War were issued to New Zealand recipients between 1920 and 1924, including to the next-of-kin of the more than 18,000 New Zealand service personnel who died as a result of war service. Nearly all the remaining medals were claimed by the individuals or their immediate family before 1970.

    You can check the medal entitlements of a relative who served in the First World War by looking at the online version of their military service file held by Archives New Zealand.(external link)  Search the site using the full name of your relative.  Once you have downloaded the file, you can find the medal entitlement and the dates the medals were issued on the History Sheet.

    If a First World War medal has been issued but cannot be found, the NZDF cannot replace it and does not sell replica (copy) medals.  Duplicate or replacement medals can be purchased from various medal dealers in New Zealand -- search online for "replica medals country:nz".  Miniatures of First World War medals can also be purchased online directly from our supplier, Eng Leong Medallic (ELM).

    IMPORTANT NOTE:  Medals issued to descendants of servicemembers after the digitalisation of service records at Archives New Zealand will not be recorded on the digitised service record.