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Distinguished Service Order appointment warrant.
Number of Canadian Appointments: 1,162, 104 1st bars, 18 2nd bars.
• South African War: 20.
• First World War: 702 (88 1st bars, 15 2nd bars).
• Second World War: 432 (17 1st bars, 2 2nd bars).
• Korean War: 8 (6 GVIR 2nd types, 2 EIIR, and 1 1st bar).
The Imperial Service Order
Established by King Edward VII on August 8, 1902, the Imperial Service Order (ISO) was created to recognize long-serving senior civil servants (manager level and above) in both the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth and British Empire. Senior civil servants in Britain were usually recognized with an appointment to the civil division of the Order of the Bath, and in the colonies it was the Order of St. Michael and St. George that was used to recognize colonial civil servants and British civil servants serving overseas.
Despite the pre-existence of two orders specifically intended for the civil service, their total membership was capped to a limited number of living members. This meant that people could only be appointed to the Order of the Bath or the Order of St. Michael and St. George when a vacancy occurred. With the rapid expansion of the British Empire in the last part of the nineteenth century, it became clear that another mechanism had to be developed to recognize those members of the civil service who had rendered long and meritorious service in the United Kingdom and especially in the less hospitable colonies. The solution to this was found in the creation of the Imperial Service Order. Along with the ISO, another award, the Imperial Service Medal, was established to recognize the service of junior civil servants.
Imperial Service Order Edward VII obverse.
The order was awarded to Canadians from its inception in 1902 until 1918, then again from 1933 to 1935, and finally from 1944 to 1946. In Canada it was typically awarded to the most senior civil servants at the level of deputy minister and to the heads of certain government agencies. One Newfoundlander was appointed to the order.
By the time the last Canadian was appointed to the order in 1946, the total membership throughout the Commonwealth and British Empire was limited to seven hundred. The British ceased awarding the ISO in 1995, though it is still used in certain Commonwealth countries.
Criteria: Twenty-five years of service in the British, dominion, or colonial civil service. It was not an automatic award, and nominations in Canada were put together by the clerk of the Privy Council and the undersecretary of state and submitted to the prime minister for transmission to the King. In “unhealthy” places the length of service required was a minimum of sixteen years (Canada was not classified as an unhealthy place).
Insignia: A six-pointed silver star 56 mm wide, in the centre of which is a gold disc bearing the Royal Cypher (EVIIR, GVR, or GRI), circumscribed with FOR FAITHFUL SERVICE in blue enamel and surmounted by an enamelled Imperial Crown. Queen Elizabeth II issues do exist, though none were awarded to Canadians.
Imperial Service Order 1st type appointment warrant.
Suspender: A small eyelet is affixed to the reverse of the crown and through this passes a suspender ring and the ribbon.
Ribbon: A watered ribbon 38 mm wide made up of equal parts red, blue, and red.
Postnominals: ISO.
Other: The ISO was manufactured by Elkington and Company of London and is found with sterling hallmarks on the reverse of the silver star of the order. The centre was made of 14-carat gold and occasionally bears a small stamp “14 K.” Although issued unnamed, all ISOs were awarded with an appointment scroll embossed with the seal of the order and the name of the recipient.
Group of Harold Payne, deputy minister of national war services, 1943–48, containing a 1st type George VI Imperial Service Order.
Number of Canadian Appointments: 9.
• Edward VII: 44.
• George V: 20.
• George VI (Type I): 33.
The Canada Medal
Canada Medal English obverse.
During the Second World War, a special government committee was established to administer honours in Canada. The Awards Coordination Committee (ACC) consisted of senior civil servants.[4] To remedy the lack of honours for Canadians, the ACC attempted on multiple occasions to establish a Canadian Order, only to be blocked by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Ultimately, the ACC was able to develop the Canada Medal as a universal Canadian honour to be awarded for a myriad of services. The genius behind the Canada Medal originated with Major-General Harry Letson.
The proposal set out such things as who was to receive the medal and what it would look like, among other important provisions:[5]
6. Eligibility: Personnel eligible to receive the medal shall be: (a) Citizens of Canada, whether civilians or members of the armed forces or of the Merchant Navy. (b) Citizens of other countries who have rendered valuable and meritorious services of the nature set forth in the next succeeding paragraph.
7 . Service Required: The medal may be awarded to persons named in the preceding paragraph for specially valuable and meritorious service of a high standard, faithful or zealous performance of ordinary duty not being sufficient in itself. There must be either:
(a) special services of a high degree of merit, such as discharge of special duties superior to the person’s ordinary work, or
(b) highly meritorious performance of ordinary duties where these have entailed work of a specially trying character, or,
(c) display of a high degree of initiative and forethought …[6]
After some questions from the King about the number of awards — he was greatly concerned that the Canada Medal would be too widely bestowed, thereby depriving it of any importance — the King approved the establishment of the honour. The entire Canada Medal project was formalized through Order-in-Council 7964 on October 14, 1943. Canadians were informed of the Canada Medal through a press release issued on October 17.
Canada Medal French obverse.
To deal with the King’s concerns vis-à-vis the number of Canada Medals, it was agreed that:
i) Quotas, to be on a half-yearly basis of one per two thousand instead of one
