Question on the Waterloo Medal Rolls

[Bill D.]

I know that the medal roll is not 100 % complete, but I was wondering if there were any particular reasons why some individuals were not included o the roll?

I'm sorry if this is a elementary question, but I'm just wading into these waters!

[peter monahan]

Bill

Sometimes simple clerical errors - remember the rolls would have been hand copied numerous times and not always 100% error free. Some men might have been questioned for eligibility: in hospital, under charges, subsequently discharged or deserted and so on. Always interesting to try and track those down, as the stories are often as interesting as the medals they may or may not have received. For campaign medals in general at that period, the onus was on the man to apply for it, so you get bars to the NGS and MGS, authorized decades after the events, where 300-400 men theoretically qualified but 1, 5 or 20 actually applied for and got them. In a few cases, no one did! The Waterloo is a different case, but I suspect that if the Adjutant or RSM didn't put you on the roll for whatever reason, no one else would be lkikely to bother unless you made a fuss and maybe not even then.

My tuppence worth!
Peter

[Bill D.]

Thanks, Peter, very much !
Your explanation was very helpful, and I really appreciate it !

I was interested because I recently acquired a Waterloo medal.
The name was not on the rolls, but a friend who does research turned up the individual's 1869 London obituary, which referred to him as "one of the last surviving officers of the Battle of Waterloo."