Medals for the Big Push

Not all medals were forged for battlefield valour. Some – like these elegant Queen Charlotte Maternity Hospital awards – honour service of a quieter kind: midwifery. Issued to staff before 1940, these medals are a tribute to those who brought life into the world during an era when childbirth was far more perilous than today.

Each features a classical bust of Queen Charlotte (1761–1818), consort to George III, and a stork on the reverse, proudly clutching a swaddled baby, alongside the words Awarded for Service. Measuring just under 20mm, they’re not miniatures, but nor was a larger version ever struck – this was the medal.

The black silk ribbon and pin back suggest they were meant to be worn, not just tucked away. One example here carries a curious date bar: 16th May 1935 – likely linked to King George V’s Silver Jubilee, though definitive records are elusive.

These medals were issued by Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hospital in London, founded in 1752 and reputed to be the country’s oldest of its kind. It shut during the Blitz, but its legacy lives on through pieces like this – a quiet salute to the women who served behind the scenes, one birth at a time.