Hong Kong Plague Medal

 

N/A.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Hong Kong Plague Medal was an un-official British Empire campaign medal presented by the government of Hong Kong for services in the colony. The medal was ‘instituted’ in 1894 and was awarded to members of the Army and Navy, together with some civilians, who assisted the government during the outbreak of bubonic plague in the colony (and surrounding areas) between 5 May and 3 September 1894.

 

The award was not allowed to be worn in uniform as this was not a service medal. The medal was issued in gold to officers and senior civilians and in silver for other recipients. Approximately 40 gold and 350 silver medals were issued.

 

The main recipients of this award were approximately 300 men of the Shropshire Light Infantry. There were other awards, approximately 50, to the Royal Navy, Royal Engineers and civilians, including policemen and nurses.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal shows a soldier fending off a figure of Death who is aiming his spear at a plague-stricken Chinese man laid on a table.

 

A woman, symbolising Charity, has her right hand on the patient's heart and her left hand holding a bottle of medicine. On the left is the inscription; 'HONG KONG' in Chinese characters. A scroll contains the date; '1894'.

 

The reverse contains two inscriptions; 'FOR SERVICES RENDERED DURING THE PLAGUE OF 1894' and; 'PRESENTED BY THE HONG KONG COMMUNITY'.

 

The ribbon suspender is a plain ring that surmounts the medal.

 

The recipient's details can be found on the medal's rim impressed in serif capitals.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and is red in colour with a yellow stripe along either edge with two further narrow yellow stripe towards the centre.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The Third Bubonic Plague.

 

The Third Bubonic Plague - In 1894 the deadly Third Pandemic of bubonic plague spread from China to Hong Kong, causing 50,000 - 100,000 deaths. It originated in the Yunnan province in China in 1855. This episode of bubonic plague spread to all inhabited continents, and ultimately killed more than 12 million people in India and China alone. According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year.

 

Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is widely thought to have caused several epidemics or pandemics throughout history, including two previous pandemics commonly designated as the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death.

 

Casualty patterns indicate that waves of this late-19th century/early-20th century pandemic may have been from two different sources. The first was primarily bubonic and was carried around the world through ocean-going trade, through transporting infected persons, rats, and cargoes harbouring fleas.

 

The second, more virulent strain, was primarily pneumonic in character with a strong person-to-person contagion. This strain was largely confined to Asia, in particular Manchuria and Mongolia.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.