The George Medal

Reprint
as at 10 March 1978

Coat of Arms of New Zealand

The George Medal

(SR 1978/43)

Elizabeth R

Royal Warrant

Note

Changes authorised by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 have been made in this reprint.

A general outline of these changes is set out in the notes at the end of this reprint, together with other explanatory material about this reprint.

This warrant is administered by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to all to whom these Presents shall come:

Greeting!

Whereas by a Warrant dated the twenty-fourth day of September, one thousand nine hundred and forty, (Gazette, 3 July 1941, p 2074) Our Royal Father, His late Majesty King George the Sixth did institute and create a Decoration known as “The George Medal”.

And whereas Our Royal Father did by Warrant dated the seventeenth day of October, one thousand nine hundred and forty-two (Gazette, 6 May 1943, p 507) make certain alterations to the said rules and ordinances; and whereas We, by a Warrant under Our Royal Sign Manual dated the ninth day of April, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four, did make such further alterations as We deemed necessary:

And whereas We deem it expedient that certain alterations should be made in the existing Warrant.

Now, Therefore, We do hereby declare that the rules and ordinances contained in the said Warrants shall be abrogated, cancelled and annulled, and We, by these Presents for Us, our Heirs and Successors, are graciously pleased to make, ordain and establish the following rules and ordinances in substitution for the same, which shall from henceforth be inviolably observed and kept:

First: It is ordained that the Medal shall be designated and styled “The George Medal”.

Secondly: It is ordained that the Medal shall be circular in form and in silver, that it shall bear on the obverse the Crowned Effigy of the Sovereign, and on the reverse a representation of St George slaying the Dragon on the coast of England, the design being circumscribed by the words “The George Medal”.

Thirdly: It is ordained that the persons eligible for the Medal shall be:

  • (1)Our faithful subjects and persons under Our protection in civil life of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of Our Dependent Territories and Associated States, or Territories under Our Jurisdiction jointly with another power, or under Our Suzerainty or Protection;

  • (2)Persons of any rank in the Naval, Military or Air Forces of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of Our Dependent Territories and Associated States, or Territories under Our Jurisdiction jointly with another power, or under Our Suzerainty or Protection, and including also the military Nursing Services and the Women's Auxiliary Services;

  • (3)Our faithful subjects and persons under Our protection in civil life within and members of the Naval, Military or Air Forces belonging to, any Member country of the Commonwealth, other than our United Kingdom, the Government whereof has signified its desire that the Medal should be awarded under the provisions of this Our Warrant, and any Territory being administered by Us in such Government.

The Medal is intended primarily for civilians and award in Our military services is to be confined to actions for which purely military Honours are not normally granted.

Fourthly: It is ordained that awards shall be made only on a recommendation to Us, for civilians by Our Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, and for members of Our Naval, Military or Air Forces only on a recommendation by the Secretary of State for Defence, or, in the case of any Member of the Commonwealth, other than Our United Kingdom, the Government whereof shall so desire by the appropriate Minister of State for the said Commonwealth country.

Fifthly: It is ordained that this Medal shall be awarded only for acts of great bravery and that the Medal may be awarded posthumously.

Sixthly: It is ordained that foreign persons and citizens of countries within the Commonwealth of which We are not Queen shall be eligible for the award of the Medal, and that awards to such persons not included under the Third Clause of this Our Warrant shall be made only on a recommendation to Us for civilians by Our Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and for Officers and members of foreign military Forces, by Our Secretary of State for Defence.

Seventhly: It is ordained that the Medal shall be worn by recipients on the left breast suspended from a ribbon one-and-a-quarter inches in width, of red, with five equidistant narrow vertical stripes of blue, and that it shall be worn immediately after the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. Provided that when the Medal is worn by a woman, it may be worn on the left shoulder, suspended from a ribbon of the same width and colour, fashioned into a bow.

Eighthly: It is ordained that the award of the Medal shall entitle the recipient, on all occasions when the use of such letters is customary to have placed after his or her names the letters “GM”.

Ninthly: It is ordained that an action which is worthy of recognition by the award of the Medal, but is performed by one upon whom the Medal has been conferred, may be recorded by the award of a Bar to be attached to the ribbon by which the Medal is suspended, and that for each such additional award an additional Bar shall be added, and that for each Bar awarded a silver rosette shall be added to the ribbon when worn alone.

Tenthly: It is ordained that the names of all those upon whom We may be pleased to confer or present the Medal or a Bar to the Medal, shall be published in the London Gazette, and that a Register of such names shall be kept in the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood.

Eleventhly: It is ordained that reproductions of the Medal, known as a Miniature Medal, which may be worn on certain occasions by those to whom the Medal is awarded, shall be half the size of the George Medal.

Twelfthly: It is ordained that it shall be competent for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, by an Order under Our Sign Manual and on a recommendation to that effect by or through Our Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury or Our Secretary of State for Defence or, in the case of any Member of the Commonwealth, other than Our United Kingdom, the Government whereof shall so desire, by the appropriate Minister of State for the said Commonwealth country, to cancel and annul the award to any person of the George Medal and that thereupon the name of such person in the Register shall be erased: provided that it shall be competent for Us, Our Heirs and Successors to restore the Decoration so forfeited when such recommendation has been withdrawn.

Lastly: We reserve to Ourself, Our Heirs and Successors, full power of annulling, altering, abrogating, augmenting, interpreting, or dispensing with these rules and ordinances, or any part thereof, by a notification under Our Sign Manual.

Given at Our Court of St James's the 30th day of November, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy-seven, in the Twenty-sixth Year of Our Reign.

By Her Majesty's Command,


James Callaghan.

Issued under the authority of the Royal Prerogative.

Date of notification in Gazette: 9 March 1978.

Contents

  • 1General

  • 2Status of reprints

  • 3How reprints are prepared

  • 4Changes made under section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989

  • 5List of amendments incorporated in this reprint (most recent first)

Notes
1 General

  • This is a reprint of The George Medal. The reprint incorporates all the amendments to warrant as at 10 March 1978, as specified in the list of amendments at the end of these notes.

    Relevant provisions of any amending enactments that contain transitional, savings, or application provisions that cannot be compiled in the reprint are also included, after the principal enactment, in chronological order. For more information, see http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/reprints/ .

2 Status of reprints

  • Under section 16D of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, reprints are presumed to correctly state, as at the date of the reprint, the law enacted by the principal enactment and by the amendments to that enactment. This presumption applies even though editorial changes authorised by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 have been made in the reprint.

    This presumption may be rebutted by producing the official volumes of statutes or statutory regulations in which the principal enactment and its amendments are contained.

3 How reprints are prepared

  • A number of editorial conventions are followed in the preparation of reprints. For example, the enacting words are not included in Acts, and provisions that are repealed or revoked are omitted. For a detailed list of the editorial conventions, see http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/editorial-conventions/ or Part 8 of the Tables of New Zealand Acts and Ordinances and Statutory Regulations and Deemed Regulations in Force.

4 Changes made under section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989

  • Section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 authorises the making of editorial changes in a reprint as set out in sections 17D and 17E of that Act so that, to the extent permitted, the format and style of the reprinted enactment is consistent with current legislative drafting practice. Changes that would alter the effect of the legislation are not permitted.

    A new format of legislation was introduced on 1 January 2000. Changes to legislative drafting style have also been made since 1997, and are ongoing. To the extent permitted by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, all legislation reprinted after 1 January 2000 is in the new format for legislation and reflects current drafting practice at the time of the reprint.

    In outline, the editorial changes made in reprints under the authority of section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 are set out below, and they have been applied, where relevant, in the preparation of this reprint:

    • •omission of unnecessary referential words (such as “of this section” and “of this Act”)

    • •typeface and type size (Times Roman, generally in 11.5 point)

    • •layout of provisions, including:

      • •indentation

      • •position of section headings (eg, the number and heading now appear above the section)

    • •format of definitions (eg, the defined term now appears in bold type, without quotation marks)

    • •format of dates (eg, a date formerly expressed as “the 1st day of January 1999” is now expressed as “1 January 1999”)

    • •position of the date of assent (it now appears on the front page of each Act)

    • •punctuation (eg, colons are not used after definitions)

    • •Parts numbered with roman numerals are replaced with arabic numerals, and all cross-references are changed accordingly

    • •case and appearance of letters and words, including:

      • •format of headings (eg, headings where each word formerly appeared with an initial capital letter followed by small capital letters are amended so that the heading appears in bold, with only the first word (and any proper nouns) appearing with an initial capital letter)

      • •small capital letters in section and subsection references are now capital letters

    • •schedules are renumbered (eg, Schedule 1 replaces First Schedule), and all cross-references are changed accordingly

    • •running heads (the information that appears at the top of each page)

    • •format of two-column schedules of consequential amendments, and schedules of repeals (eg, they are rearranged into alphabetical order, rather than chronological).

5 List of amendments incorporated in this reprint (most recent first)