King George V Coronation Medal 1911, Lieutenant Henry Denne Hirst, Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).

Circular, silver medal designed by Sir Edgar Bertram MacKennal (1863-1931), with the profile crowned heads of King George V and Queen Mary in coronation robes on the obverse. On the reverse is a crowned royal cypher and the date, '22 June 1911', commemorating the date of the Coronation of George V.

Henry Denne Hirst was born about 1865 and enlisted with The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) in 1899. He served in South Africa during the Boer War (1899-1902), achieving the rank of Captain by 1903. Hirst went on to serve in France during the World War One (1914-1918)as a battalion commander. Unusually for the time, Hirst was known to have rejected recruits he discovered were under age despite the increasing shortage of manpower. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel but died at the Western Heights Military Hospital in Dover in 1918, following an operation and short illness.

From a medal group awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Denne Hirst, Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 1912-1918. From the collection of the former Buffs Regimental Museum.