Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An impressive post-War B.E.M. group of four awarded to Detachment Quartermaster and Nurse Mona L. Merriman, British Red Cross Society, who was ‘Mentioned’ in the Great War and devoted 70 years of her life to caring for others

British Empire Medal, (Civil) E.II.R., on lady’s bow riband (Miss Mona Langshaw Merriman.); Defence Medal; Voluntary Medical Service Medal, with eleven Additional Award Bars (Mona L. Merriman); British Red Cross Society Medal for War Service 1914-18, bronze, with integral top riband bar, very fine and better (4) £200-£240

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Norman Gooding Collection.

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B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1974:
‘Detachment Quartermaster, Surrey Branch, British Red Cross Society.’

Mona Langshaw Merriman was born in Weybridge, Surrey, on 6 June 1889. She served as a nurse during the Great War with No. 58 (Surrey) Voluntary Aid Detachment, including extensive service at the British Red Cross Hospital at Hillfield, Reigate, from November 1914 to April 1918. This is confirmed on the recipient’s Red Cross nursing card, which further adds that she was Mentioned in Despatches. Transferred to Urmston & Fairfield Court Hospitals in Eastbourne from October to December 1918, Merriman concluded her service as Assistant Nurse and returned to the family home in Reigate.

Remaining a member of the British Red Cross Society, Merriman received the Voluntary Medical Service Medal for 15 years’ continuous efficient service and 11 clasps representative of a further 55 years of service. A retrospective award stretching back to the creation of the Voluntary Aid Detachments in 1909, her devotion to duty over such a long period of time was confirmed with the award of the B.E.M. in the New Year’s Honours of 1974, the recipient being around 85 years of age at that time. She died in 1987.

Sold with a B.R.C.S. ‘For Merit’ badge, enamel and base metal, named to reverse ‘3424 M. Merriman.’