New Zealand War Medal, 1865, awarded to Commander Berkeley George Albert Belson, Royal Navy

Circular, silver medal with, on the obverse, a portrait of Queen Victoria wearing diadem and veil, with the inscription, 'Victoria D: G: Britt: Reg: F:D:'; on the reverse, a laurel wreath enclosing the year, '1865', and the inscription, 'New Zealand' and 'Virtutis Honor' (Honour of valour). The medal is suspended from a blue ribbon.

Belson was born in 1840 into a distinguished naval and military family, the nephew of Major-General Sir Charles Philip Belson who had commanded the 28th Regiment in the Peninsular and at Waterloo. He joined the Royal Navy in 1853 and served as a cadet and midshipman in the Baltic and Crimea, for which he was awarded the Baltic Medal and Crimea War Medal. He went on to serve in the 2nd China War (1856-1860) and as a lieutenant aboard HMS 'Eclipse' in the 3rd Maori War (1863-1865). He retired in 1873 with the rank of commander, dying at Portsmouth in 1918.

This campaign medal, designed by J S and A B Wyon, was authorised in 1869 and was awarded to British and Imperial troops involved in the Maori Wars (1845-1847 and 1860-1866).