Vol. 64, No. 5 (September-October 2013) 35

In conclusion, Francis W. Craven’s miniature medal set has been located.14 Figure 8 shows this set of six medals, fitted in a Spink & Son case. Note that Craven did not obtain a miniature US Navy Cross, and made do with the US Army’s Distinguished Service Cross fitted with a Navy Cross ribbon. The reverse of the suspender bar on his miniature DSO is magnified in Figure 9. The reverse is engraved LIEUT. / F.W. CRAVEN to the left of the jump ring, and R.N. / 1918 on the right side. A small four-digit number (of unknown significance) was stamped into the right end of the bar.

Figure 9: Engraving on the suspender bar of Craven’s Distinguished Service Order.

Endnotes1. Decorations United States Army - 1862 - 1926. Washington,

D.C.: War Department, Office of the Adjutant General, 1927, p.

796.2. The London Gazette, 17 March 1919, Supplement p. 3592. 3. Ibid., p. 3595. 4. Ibid., July 27, 1920, p. 7866. 5. Admiralty document No. 942/0/2/6, dated October 15, 1918, from

the Vice-Admiral, Buncrana (Northern Ireland), to the Secretary of the Admiralty.

6. Published in the “Ray City Blog”, from the website www.raycityhistory.wordpress.com /tag/francis-worthington-craven. Ray City is in Berrien County in south-central Georgia, near Valdosta. A significant portion of the troops aboard the Otranto were drafted from that County.

7. Joseph E. Hewell, “World War I Journal -- The Sinking of HMS Otranto”, published in the website

www.geocities.com/josephhewell/index. 8. The ship’s history was summarized from the HMS Otranto

website www.freepages.military.rootsweb.com/cacunithistories/HMS_Otranto

9. All three decorations were also published in reference 2, p.3592. 10. Printed in another Ray City History Blog, accessed by www.

raycityhistory.wordpress.com /tag/hms-otranto The Shillabeer DSM group was sold in a Christie’s Auction (date unknown) where it realized $1492.

11. Admiralty document N.L. 48335, dated October 26, 1918. 12. Admiralty record 196/51. The clerical penmanship is hard to

read. But it has been transcribed into the Royal Irish Constabulary website:www.theauxiliaries.com/men-alphabetical/men-c/craven/craven

13. The Times (of London), February 3, 1921. 14. The Craven miniature medals were shown and discussed without

disclosing their owner, on the forum website: The Royal Irish Constabulary Forum.>genealogy queries>RIC district inspector Francis Worthington Craven

Available to OMSA MembersMonographs, Medal Notes, and Books

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Medals for Service in Mexico and on theMexican Border 1911-1917 (Second Edition)By Anthony Margrave, Second Edition Editor: William Emerson, hard cover, 198 pages, $49.00(members $29.00)

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36 JOMSA

A single, silver Portuguese campaign medal with two silver bars, one a campaign bar SUD DE ANGOLA and the other an unauthorized wound bar NAULILA caught my attention on eBay. My knowledge of Portuguese campaign medals indicated that silver medals and bars were given to officers below the rank of general and to have an attached wound bar would mean that one could trace ownership of this medal to a small number of officers wounded at a place called Naulila. The sad reality is that Portuguese campaign medals are not named thus determining true provenance is almost impossible unless one purchases the medal from an estate or a family member. This beautifully designed first campaign medal of the Republic haunted me and so began an eBay bidding war to acquire the medal. Once obtained, my next project was to research the historical background of the medal.

The Portuguese Republic was established on October 5, 1910 after a revolution deposed the monarchy. The was followed by a period of political and economic upheaval and new regulations governing military medals would not be approved until February 4, 1911 and January 18, 1917. The 1911 Republican laws governing military medals replaced the effigy of King Luis I and Queen Amelia on medals with the effigy of a young woman, the symbol of the new Republic. The January 18, 1917 law and subsequent regulations (Decree No. 2940) outlined who could be awarded a campaign medal, created three classes of award for each medal, described the design, and authorized the award of campaign and wound bars.

The medal authorized in 1917 is quite plain in design with the obverse having a centered profile of a young Republican woman facing left over the inscription REPUBLICA PORTUGUESA. She is surrounded by a circular wreath. It is a beautiful design which incorporates a great variety of Portugal’s historical symbols.

The medal is 33mm in diameter and both the medal and the bars are silver. The obverse (Figure 1) has the centered effigy of a woman, the allegorical image of the Portuguese Republic. The left-facing profile shows a young woman with flowing hair who wears a phrygian cap which signifies freedom and the pursuit of liberty. This allegorical figure is simlar to the representation of Marianna, the French Republic’s allegorical figure. Atop her phrygian cap the Portuguese maiden wears a laurel

Figure 1: The obverse of the Portuguese Campaign Medal.

wreath tied at the nap of her neck with a ribbon. The laurel wreath signifies victory, triumph and success; a fitting symbol for a campaign medal.

Around the outer edge of the medal, circling the effigy of the Republic, is a circle of open tulips bordered by two beaded circles. The tulips begin at the bottom of the medal on either side of King Sancho I’s shield and proceed open-end upward to the left and right until they meet at the National Coat of Arms at the top-center of the medal. The symbolism of open tulips represents eternal life, fame and elegance which applies to the Republic and to the person awarded the campaign medal.

At the top center of the medal is the national coat of arms consisting of the Manuelian armillary sphere superimposed on which is the Portuguese shield. The armillary sphere is an ancient navigation device that made possible the Age of Discovery allowing Portuguese sailors to navigate throughout the world and create the longest-lasting empire. The armillary sphere is considered the prime symbol of Portugal.

The national shield of Portugal is an intricate design of several old historic symbols dating back to 1143. In the center of the shield is a white inescutcheon (small shield in the center of a shield) with five, small, blue shields arranged in the form of a cross. Within each of the five blue-shields are five white-bezants (medieval for gold coin). The white bezants represent the five wounds of

THE SUL DE ANGOLA CAMPAIGN MEDAL WITH NAULILA BAR:A SMALL BAR, AN IMPORTANT STORY

RUSSELL FURTADO

Vol. 64, No. 5 (September-October 2013) 37

Christ while the five blue shields represent Alphonso I’s victories over five Moorish kings. Common legend holds that Alphonso I was divinely guided in his victory over the Moorish kings, and in gratitude he placed the blue shields in a cross on his shield, a tradition that has passed down the centuries to the present. An interesting legend, but Alphonso I and his heirs had blue shields with eleven, five and seven bezants at one time or another. Sancho I’s shield is found at the bottom, center, edge of the medal. The shield is made up of the five blue shields in a cross similar to that of his father, Alphonso I. Finally, above Sancho I’s shield, and below the effigy of the Republic, are the raised words REPUBLICA PORTUGUESA. The maker’s name J SERGIO is just below the base of the back of the woman’s neck.

My research to date has failed to determine the name of the designer of the medal that I own, but the maker’s name is located at the base of the women’s neck on the obverse. Medal shops like J. Sergio, Rego and F. De Costa produced these campaign medals in copper for sergeants and soldiers, in silver for officers to the rank of colonel and in gold for general officers. The medal in my possession was manufatured by J. Sergio in 1919). Army and Navy personnel were issued the same campaign medals.

The reverse (Figure 2) has five lines of text: 1916 / CAMPANHAS / DO / EXERCITO / PORTVGUES (“1916 Campaigns of the Portuguese army”). Surrounding the text is a circle of oak leaf sprigs bordered by beaded circles. The circle of oak leaves is interrupted by historically significant shields at the three, six, nine and 12 o’clock positions. In the three o’clock position is the Order of Christ shield which contains two crosses. The outer cross is the “Latin cross with arms;”1 the interior

Figure 2: The reverse of the Portuguese Campaign Medal.

cross is a simple Latin Cross. The Order of Christ was originally the Knights Templar but after the Templars were disbanded by the Pope. King Dinis of Portugal in 1318 created the Order of Christ and allowed all former Templar Knights to join the Order along with their substantial wealth and property. The six o’clock position is occupied by a shield with a centered castle. The symbol of a castle dates back to 1248 under King Alphonso III, who placed a castle on his banner/flag for every Moorish castle he captured. Thus the castle became a symbol of victory.

At the nine o’clock position is the shield of the Order of Avis distinguised by the Mary Cross, so called because its arms look like the Gothic initial of Mary.2 The Order of Avis is the oldest military Order, established in 1162 by King Alphonso Henriques. The order was secularized in 1789 and after that could only be awarded to Portuguese or foreign military personnel. Finally, the shield at the 12 o’clock position is that of Sancho I, whose shield is composed of five shields arranged in a cross to pay homage to God for leading his father, Alphonso I, into victory over five Moorish kings. The five blue shields called quinas are prominently seen symbols in Portuguese banners, flags, seals, and architecture.

Oak leaf sprigs emanate from either side of the bottom shield, rising upward. They extend vertically connecting the shields and meet at the bottom of the top shield. The oak leaf sprigs symbolize strength and endurance.

Figure 3: The ribbon of the Portuguese Campaign Medal.

The ribbon of the medal is 30mm wide with a 20mm wide green center stripe that has a 5mm wide red stripe at each edge (Figure 3). The green color stands for hope for the future and red signifies the blood of those who died for their nation. The historical background of the colors lies in the fact that the Portuguese Republican Party has always used red and green colors in their banners from the first, failed, Republican Revolution of January 31, 1891 in the city of Oporto, Portugal. The red and green are in stark contrast to the monarchial colors of blue and white, which are the predominant colors found on medal ribbons from