In 1899 Queen Victoria agreed the issue of the Queen's Sudan Medal, it was awarded to personnel of British and Egyptian forces which took part in the Sudan campaign between 1896 and 1898 and any of the first six battles of these campaigns. This was against the revolt led by Muhammad Ahmad (The Mahdi).

One of the most famous battles was the Battle of Omdurman where Lt. Winston Churchill fought.

This campaign is often described as "The reconquest of the Sudan". Some countries like Italy, Germany, France or Belgium were expanding their African colonies, which Sudan could be one, the British decided to occupy it.

Description:

Materials: The majority of the British medals and clasps are made of solid silver, though some were issue in bronze versions, mainly to Indian non-combatants. The majority of the British campaign awards are circular, usually 36mm in diameter.

Ribbons: Medals are worn suspended from their own specific ribbons. These were first made of silk but cotton was increasingly used as the nineteenth century developed. Their own colours often have a symbolic significance: the equal stripes of the ‘1939 to 1945 Star,’ for example, are dark blue to represent the service of the Royal and Merchant Navies, red, to represent that of the Armies and light blue to represent that of Air Forces.

Ribbon width can vary slightly though it is generally 32mm wide.

Ribbon – Left half yellow, right half black with a thin dividing stripe of red.

Queen's Sudan Medal ribbon

Suspension – By a plain, straight suspender.

Type – Campaign medal.

Eligibility – British and Egyptian Troops.

Awarded for – Campaign Service.

Campaign – Sudan Campaign.

Established – 1899

Designer – G. W. de Saulles.

Naming – Various types, these include very neat sloped engraving capital letters, others in upright capitals and many unnamed. A few were impressed in thin Roman capitals and some in Arabic.

Clasps – none issued.

Description – The medal is made from Silver or bronze metal, 36.5mm diameter. The obverse is the crowned half-length figure of Queen Victoria and the wording “VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX.” The reverse is a very fine figure of Victory, who is seated while holding a laurel wreath in her left hand and a palm branch in her right. There is a plinth with the wording “SUDAN” supported by three lilies. Behind her and on either side are the British and Egyptian flags.

This guide will help you through all the parts and descriptions of military medals

Sources:

Major L L Gordon ‘British Battles and Medals’

Some of the material on this page was also partially derived from

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Queen%27s_Sudan_Medal>

Which are released under the terms of

Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-s/3.0/.

Queen’s Sudan Medal (1899)

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