2-913-857 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Decoration of the Mejidie, 1854. Order of the Medjidie - Turkish medal presented by Abdulmejid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, to British naval officer Montagu O'Reilly for his service during the Crimean War. 'Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, with the discernment of a keen diplomatist, observed that Lieut. O'Reilly seized every opportunity to earn for his Captain and himself "a place in the world's eye;" and, therefore, his Lordship made a passage for the Lieutenant to the Sultan. On the 6th of February last, his Majesty granted to Lieut. O'Reilly, at his palace on the Bosphorus, a private audience...A short time after this interview the decoration of the Mejidie was sent to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe for Lieutenant Montagu O'Reilly as an acknowledgment "for special service in the Black Sea".' From "Illustrated London News", 1854.