Talk:British Empire Medal

No longer issued by Britain

When did we stop issuing it? Graldensblud 19:41, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

1995, I believe. --Xdamr^talk 21:50, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

utilse?Being a 'British' topic? ize is usually reserved for US 'English'? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.99.189.96 (talk) 03:42, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Standing of People Eligible for BEM vs Appointment to the Order of the British Empire

The article currently states that the BEM is awarded to military personnel below Warrant Officer rank, police below Superintendent and to fire services personnel below Divisional Officer. The Statutes and Statute amendments for the Order of the British Empire back this up for military personnel but are silent on police/fire services. It seems unlikely that the threshold for admittance to the order vs award of the medal is below Superintendent in the police when, to the best of my knowledge, Inspectors are regarded as officers (loosely akin to Lieutenant or Captain in the Army) and thus would presumably be admitted as an MBE rather than awarded a BEM. If anyone has sources that address this, a suitable update would be good. AusTerrapin (talk) 18:15, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

Infobox

Shouldn't we split up the "Awarded By" line into the Lord Lieutenant (pre-1992), and the Queen (all the rest)? Even though the BEM is now awarded by the Queen herself, it has not always been like that in history. -andy 77.7.105.58 (talk) 07:41, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

No, the "Awarded by" section mainly refers to who (for a person e.g Sovereign) or what (for a country e.g Australia). An order is awarded by the Sovereign as they are the sovereign of the order even though it maybe the Governor-General that actually hands over the medal whereas the Centenary Medal was awarded by Australia as a commemorative medal. Nford24 (Want to have a chat?) 09:44, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Working Class Gong

Can someone expand on the archive of why Sir John Major decided to stop the award back in the 1990s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.53.38.21 (talk) 19:17, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

The point is a good one, essentially the reaon was that he said he believed in a "classless society" and that differentiating between BEM and MBEs was really not appropriate, remember despite bneigna right wing Tory he did come from a Lower Middle Class/ Working Class background. Anyway New Labour were hardly going to bring back such a class based distinction. Now that the old Etonians have taken over the Tory Party, which then took over the country in 2010 they feel sufficiently empowered to bring the BEM to award working class people deemed worthy of some recognition without giving them ideas above their station that they could be "Members of Order the British Empire". I don't think they've been quite so churlish as to take away MBEs from Lolipop Ladies given the MBE from 1992 to 2012, but I'd watch this space if I were you. In seriousness the article does lack an explanation of the political context and so there is neutrality POV issue due to such ommissions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.176.202.242 (talk) 20:33, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Several queries

Under the heading Award, the second paragraph states ‘The honour is divided into civil and military medals in a similar way to the Order of the British Empire itself. … While recipients are not technically counted as members of the Order, these medals are nevertheless affiliated with it.’ Under heading 1922–40 is the statement ‘In 1922, the original medal was discontinued and split into two separate honours, which still formed part of the Order of the British Empire.’ The first quote states ‘affiliated’ while second states ‘formed part’ which seems contradictory. I think citations are required for ‘The British Empire Medal, which may be awarded posthumously’ and ‘However, also starting in 1940, the statutes of the BEM were amended so that it could again be awarded for acts of gallantry’.Anthony Staunton (talk) 04:03, 23 November 2017 (UTC)

2022

Are imperial medals really awarded in 2022, with the motto "For God and the Empire"? Is it possible that its elimination has never been discussed? 93.149.231.250 (talk) 23:53, 10 June 2022 (UTC)