War Service Medal 1873

War Service Medal 1873. Unnamed as issued. Obverse: The bust of Emperor Franz Joseph I facing right wearing a laurel wreath. The legend 'FRANZ JOSEPH I.KAISER V.ÖSTERREICH KÖNIG V.BÖHMEN ETC.APOST. KÖNIG V.UNGARN', around the circumference. Reverse: '2 December 1873' on three lines within a laurel and oak leaf wreath tied at the base by a ribbon. The medal is fitted with a loose ring suspender and a piece of 40 mm wide gold ribbon, that has black stripes near the edges and black horizontal stripes down the centre, folded in a triangular shape.

On his 25th Jubilee, in December 1873, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria instituted the 'Kriegsmedaille' (War Medal). The medal shows on the obverse the Emperor's head surrounded by a laurel wreath and on the reverse the date '2.December 1873' (those showing the spelling Dezember where produced after 1900). It was suspended from a ribbon in the Habsburg colors of black and yellow. The medal was awarded to military personnel who had taken part in a least one action since 1848. Later the award of the medal was extended to military personnel who had taken part campaigns after 1873, until the Kaiser's death in November 1916. This medal is part of a collection assembled by the late Hon. Sir Thomas Hughes, Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales. It was presented to the Memorial in memory of his son, Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, Australian Army Medical Corps, who died of wounds in France on 11 December 1916 and his grandson, Flying Officer Peter Roger Forrest Hughes, 12 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, who was killed on active service while flying in the Northern Territory on 3 October 1942.