Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

MILITARY MEDALLION

Date

1907

Materials

BRASS

No. Pieces

2

Diameter

4.3

Description

INSCRIBED: "ARMY BAYONET FIGHTING MALTA 1907" WITH FIGURE OF MAN OBVERSE. INSCRIBED: "PIONEER M.J. BENNETT NO.2 SEC. F. CO. 4 RIFLE BORE" ON REVERSE. CASE INCLUDED NOT ORIGINAL WITH MEDAL.

Subjects

PERSONAL SYMBOL

Historical Association

MILITARY

History

MILITARY COMPETITION AWARD, PROBABLY FOR BAYONET USE. BETWEEN WARS SOLDIERS OFTEN INVOLVED IN COMPETITIONS & WAR GAMES TO HONE SKILLS. MALTA IN 1907 WAS PART OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. DONOR HISTORY UNKNOWN. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF MILITARY OBJECTS, INCLUDING THOSE DONATED BY M.J. BENNETT. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION WAS FOUND IN BENNETT'S ATTESTATION PAPERS AND RECORDS FROM THE GLENBOW ARCHIVES. MICHAEL JOHN BENNETT WAS BORN IN 1881 IN WHITNEY, ENGLAND AND SERVED IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR BEFORE IMMIGRATING TO CANADA IN 1910 WITH HIS WIFE, ALICE MAY BENNETT (NEE EDWARDS). THEY WERE LIVING IN MEDICINE HAT WHERE BENNETT WORKED AS A CARPENTER WHEN HE ENLISTED WITH THE 175TH BATTALION CEF ON JANUARY 26, 1916. BENNETT SURVIVED THE WAR AND HE AND ALICE HAD SIX CHILDREN. THE FAMILY LIVED IN SHAUNESSEY AND LETHBRIDGE AND BENNETT WORKED AS A STREETCAR DRIVER, CARPENTER AND HOTEL OPERATOR. HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE KIWANIS CLUB AND LETHBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. BENNETT DIED IN 1982. M.J. BENNETT'S GRANDSON, TREVOR BENNETT, PROVIDED SOME FURTHER FAMILY HISTORY IN 2002 (SEE P20020071009). SEE PERMANENT FILE P19672995000 FOR HARDCOPIES OF BENNETT'S ATTESTATION PAPERS AND GLENBOW ARCHIVES FONDS DESCRIPTION. *UPDATE* IN 2017, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF BOXED TEXTILES AND ACCESSORIES, INCLUDING A SNUFFBOX DONATED BY MICHAEL JOHN BENNETT IN 1970. IN AN EMAIL EXCHANGE WITH PUNDYK IN NOVEMBER 2017, FRED WATMOUGH, A GRANDSON OF MICHAEL AND ALICE’S WROTE, “GRANDDAD WAS STATIONED IN MALTA IN WORD WAR 1. YOU WOULD PROBABLY NEED MILITARY RECORDS TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHERE HE WAS STATIONED AT IN MALTA.” ON 13 FEBRUARY 2018, PUNDYK CONDUCTED AN INTERVIEW WITH ANOTHER GRANDCHILD OF MICHAEL AND ALICE BENNETT, MIKE BENNETT, ALONG WITH HIS WIFE, DIANE. DURING THE INTERVIEW, BENNETT SPOKE IN REFERENCE TO THIS MEDAL, “I DON’T REMEMBER THE MEDAL, BUT I DO REMEMBER VIVIDLY A PICTURE OF THE BAYONET TEAM HANGING ON THE WALL. IT ALWAYS HUNG ON THE WALL IN THE BIG DINING ROOM. AND TO ME, AS A YOUNG CHILD, IT WAS VERY FUNNY BECAUSE I THOUGHT THEY WERE IN LONG UNDERWEAR. AND THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THEIR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING THAT THEY HAD ON. [A] PROTECTIVE UNIFORM. AND I DON’T KNOW WHO HAS THAT PICTURE NOW BUT IT WOULD BE GREAT IF IT COULD GO ALONG WITH THAT MEDAL, WHEREVER IT IS." REFLECTING ON THE MILITARY ARTIFACTS DONATED BY M. J. BENNETT, THE YOUNGER MIKE BENNETT STATED, “[GRANDDAD] DIDN’T TELL STORIES ABOUT THE WAR OR THE PAST TIMES. [NEITHER] HIM NOR HIS THREE SONS THAT WENT TO WAR [TOLD STORIES OF THEIR WARTIME EXPERIENCES]. THEY DIDN’T SEEM TO WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.” ON 11 DECEMBER 2017, PUNDYK CONDUCTED AN INTERVIEW WITH BENNETT’S ELDEST GRANDDAUGHTER, ALICE MAY DUHAMEL. THROUGH THIS INTERVIEW FURTHER INFORMATION WAS RECORDED ABOUT THE DONOR AND THE USERS OF A NUMBER OF ARTIFACTS DONATED BY MICHAEL JOHN BENNETT. ABOUT THE DONOR, DUHAMEL SAID, “WE CALLED HIM ‘POP’. THAT’S BECAUSE [ONE OF THE GRANDCHILDREN], MICHAEL, COULDN’T SAY ‘GRANDPA’, [SO] HE SAID ‘POP’. HE’S ‘POP’ TO EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY. UP UNTIL HE WAS ONE HUNDRED AND ONE OR SO.” SHE CONTINUED, “POP WAS IN ENGLAND [WHEN] HE MARRIED HIS WIFE - [AND MY] GRANDMOTHER - ALICE MAY EDWARDS BENNETT. [SHE] CAME TO CANADA IN 1911 IN SEPTEMBER ON THE SHIP AND LANDED IN CANADA. GRANDMA BROUGHT UNCLE JACK, WHO WAS THE OLDEST, AND MY MOTHER… [MICHAEL AND ALICE] HAD SEVEN CHILDREN: JACK, EDNA MAY, FRANK JAMES, HARRY HUGH, ART – I DON’T KNOW, DORIS ALICE, AGNES MARY, AND SYDNEY EDWARD. MY MOTHER WAS EDNA.” PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE P19705622000 FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTIONS, INCLUDING INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS OF THE BENNETT FAMILY HISTORY.

Catalogue Number

P19738919000

Acquisition Date

1973-02

Collection

Museum

Less detail