Metropolitan Police Edward VII Coronation Medal : Police Constable D Turner, V Division

Places
Accession Number REL38200.004
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Medal
Physical description Bronze
Maker Unknown
Place made United Kingdom
Date made c 1902
Conflict Period 1900-1909
Description

Metropolitan Police Edward VII Coronation Medal. Engraved around edge with recipient's details. Contained in original black leatherette covered box of issue, stamped on the lid with a gold king's crown, and lined with white cotton and white velveteen.

History / Summary

This medal was issued to reward the Police Forces and related organisations who had been on duty during the coronation celebrations for King Edward VII in London. In the case of the Metropolitan Police it was issued only to those men who had been on duty in the Metrpolitan Police Area on the actual day of the coronation. David L Turner was born in Britain and served in the London Metropolitan Police Force, in V Division (Wandsworth). Sometime before 1914 Turner emigrated to Canada, taking this medal with him. It is not known whether he had met and married his Australian born wife, Annie, before he emigrated, or whether they were married in Canada. Turner enlisted in the Royal Naval Canadian Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR) on the outbreak of the First World War and was assigned the service number VR/1138, attaining the rank of Petty Officer. He served in HMCS Shearwater, a sloop transferred from the Royal Navy. Shearwater's guns were removed at the beginning of the war, when she was located in British Columbia, and her crew were sent to man HMCS Niobe at Halifax. Shearwater was subsequently reconfigured as a submarine tender and largely remanned by her original crew who transferred to the Canadian west coast once more. Shearwater escorted two submarines, HMCS CC-1 and CC-2, in 1917, down the west coast of America, through the Panama Canal to Halifax. Turner, however, died before the start of the voyage, while Shearwater was still in British Columbia. He is buried at Vancouver (Mountain View) Cemetery. His widow returned to Sydney to live with her family, together with her infant daughter.