Obverse: Bust of Queen Victoria, crowned and veiled, with order (left). Legend: 'VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX'. Reverse: at the foot of a palm tree a trophy of flags, cannons, the royal shield, a capstan, etc. Legend: 'ARMIS EXPOSCERE PACEM'. Exergue: 'CHINA 1900'. Inscription on edge: 'LIEUT.O.M. MAKINS, R.N. H.M.S.HERMIONE.' Fitted with a bar and cerise ribbon edged with yellow.

Oscar Matthew Makins (1872-1942) was born in Henley on Thames, the son of Sir William Thomas Makins, J.P., MP. a barrister, and Honorary Colonal of the 3rd Essex Artillery Volanteer Corps. Oscar Makins entered the Royal Navy as a 'Britannia' cadet on 15 July 1885. He was a lieutenant in HMS 'Hermione' from the 7 April 1898 to 15 August 1901 At this time the ship was deployed to the China Station during the Boxer Rebellion, but she played only a minor part in this conflict. Makins was promoted to the rank of Commander in June 1905 and retired with the rank of Captain on 31 October 1911. He was sent on training courses a few years later, in preparation for possible wartime roles. At the end of World War I, he was acting as a Naval Control Officer inspecting neutral vessels for 'illegal cargo' bound for Germany in contravention of the British blockade. He was in New York during 1918 and 1919 where a US record suggests he was also ' In charge of British Naval Intelligence'. Makins reverted to the retired list on 31 July 1919.

In 1909, he married Marienne Prescott Emily Valentina Hoyland in Istanbul. The couple lived in Westminster where Captain Makins died of appendicitis.