Médaille Militaire awarded to Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope.

Andrew Brown Cunningham was born on January 7 1883 and entered the Navy as a Cadet aboard HMS ‘Britannia’ in 1897. He first went to sea shortly before his promotion to Midshipman and soon afterwards sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station. In September 1902 he began his long association with destroyers and in 1908 received his first command.

He spent the whole of World War I in command of the destroyer HMS ‘Scorpion’ serving mainly in the Mediterranean and at Gallipoli. After the war, on his promotion to Captain, Cunningham went on to command the 6th Destroyer Flotilla in 1922 and was later appointed Flag Captain to the Commander in Chief, America and West Indies Station. He was promoted to Acting Admiral on 9 May 1939 and made Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean.

In November 1940, he launched an attack by the Fleet Air Arm against heavy units of the Italian fleet lying in Taranto harbour. Cunningham was confirmed in his new rank the following January and two months later again attacked the Italians at Cape Matapan off the south coats of Greece where he was conspicuously successful.

After promotion to Admiral of the Fleet, he spent the remainder of the war as a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. He was made Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope and Baron Cunningham of Kirkhope in 1950. Admiral Cunningham died in 1963.

The medal is silver gilt with, on the obverse, a silver laurel wreath tied top and bottom by a gilt knot which encloses the head of ‘Marianne’ surrounded by a blue enamel circle bearing the inscription ‘REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE 1870’. On the reverse in the centre on a matt-finished ground are the words ’VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE’. Above the medal is a trophy of arms (crossed guns, cuirass, anchor, swords and muskets) connected by a ring to a yellow ribbon edged in green.

It is mounted on a bar with nineteen other medals awarded to Admiral Cunningham and held by the Museum: Croix de Guerre (MED2667), Queen South Africa medal with bars ‘Cape Colony’, ‘Orange Free State’, ‘Diamond Hill’, ‘Belfast’ (MED2648), 1914-15 Star (MED2649), British War medal (MED2650), Victory medal (MED2651), 1939-45 Star (MED2652), Africa Star (MED2653), Italy Star (MED2654), Defence Medal (MED2655), War Medal with bronze oak leaf (MED2656), George V Coronation medal (MED2657), George V Jubilee medal (MED2658), George VI Coronation medal (MED2659), Elizabeth II Coronation medal (MED2660), Croix de Guerre, Belgium (MED2661), Military medal, Greece (MED2662), DSM, US Navy (MED2664) and Campaign medal USA (MED2665). The Museum also holds Admiral Cunningham’s decorations.