HC Deb 26 June 1918 vol 107 cc1041-2
32. Mr. WATT

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the date for qualification for what is called the 1914 Medal can be extended, say, to May or June of 1915, so as to include the Highland and Lowland Territorials, known to the world as the 51st and 52nd Divisions, mobilised in August, 1914, but prevented by the fear of invasion from going to France then, but afterwards fighting with such bravery in Gallipoli and France, in view of the fact that the present conditions for the medal create a distinction between the Regular Army and the Territorials who answered without hesitation the Imperial Service form call issued by Lord Kitchener?

Mr. MACPHERSON

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on the 29th January last to my hon. Friend the Member for Brecknock. The conditions governing the award of the "1914 Star" were very carefully considered, and cannot, I regret, be extended.

Mr. WATT

Among those considerations did the right hon. Gentleman deal with this, that it was a War Office demand that prevented these men, quite willing, from going to the front at that time?

Mr. MACPHERSON

All relevant facts were taken into consideration. I need hardly tell my hon. Friend I should have been delighted to have been in a position to grant the request as to these two particular divisions.