Awarded to Admiral of the Fleet, Earl David Beatty, G.C.B (1871-1936). Obverse: Half-length figure of Queen Victoria, crowned and veiled, with order, holding a sceptre in her right hand (L). Legend: 'VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX'. Reverse: Fame, winged, seated upon a throne decorated with flags, her arm outstretched, holding a palm branch in her right and a wreath in her left hand; a tablet inscribed: 'SUDAN', and floral scroll below. Inscription on edge: 'LT.D.BEATTY RN'. Fitted with a bar and yellow and black ribbon with a central narrow red stripe. Mounted on a bar as worn with 13 other medals.

Beatty entered the navy in 1884 at the age of 13, training in ‘Britannia.’ He commanded a gunboat on the Nile during Kitchener's re-conquest of the Sudan, gaining the D.S.O. and early promotion to commander. He served in ‘Barfleur’ during the Boxer Rebellion, leading reinforcements to Tientsin and Hsiku. He was wounded during this operation. In 1910 he was promoted Rear-Admiral at an exceptionally early age. In 1912 Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, appointed him his naval secretary. During the First World War he commanded the battle-cruiser fleet based on Rosyth in HMS ‘Lion’ He achieved a decisive victory at Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. During an action in the area of Dogger Bank, 24 January 1915, the ‘Blucher’ was sunk but the remaining German ships escaped. Beatty led the battle-cruiser fleet at Jutland 31 May 1916 - the only major naval action of the war. In 1916 he succeeded Jellicoe as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet and after the war, was First Sea Lord from 1919-1927.