The Anzacs

Most decorated · 12 medals and honours, 0 for gallantry

Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert Archey

Gilbert Archey was a zoologist and director of the Auckland Museum for forty years. A New Zealand Field Artillery officer in the First World War, he was made an OBE in 1919, and after a long scientific career became CBE (1958), a knight (1963) and Hector Medallist (1968). He is on the list for the sheer number of honours: 12 items across both wars and a long scientific career, none for gallantry.

12medals and honours
0of them for gallantry

His medals and honours

Every other medal and honour (13)

GEORGIVS V BRITT OMN REX ET IND IMP
British War Medal 1914-19201914-1920Qualified by overseas service with the NZEF in the First World War.
Victory Medal 1914-19191914-1919Qualified by service in a theatre of war with the NZEF (Western Front, 1917-1918).
OBE
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE, Military)Gazetted 12 December 1919 · NZEF, France and Flanders and BritainArchey was a zoology graduate and assistant curator at Canterbury Museum when he joined the New Zealand Field Artillery as a Territorial in 1912. He went overseas with the NZEF, reaching the Western Front as an…
GEORGIVS V SILVER JUBILEE 1935GR
King George V Silver Jubilee Medal 19351935Commemorative medal issued in New Zealand in 1935 to selected public figures; he was director of the Auckland Museum.
TERRITORIAL SERVICENZ
New Zealand Territorial Service Medalby 1945Long-service medal for his twelve years' Territorial service (the Auckland Museum record notes '12 years service').
THE WAR MEDAL 1939-1945GR
War Medal 1939-19451939-1945Awarded for full-time service in the Second World War (his bar carries the ribbon only).
NEW ZEALAND WAR SERVICENZ
New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945Awarded to New Zealanders for Second World War service (home defence command and then overseas secondment).
GALATHEA 1950-52G
Galathea Medal 1950-1952 (Denmark)After the 1950-52 expedition (presentation date not found) · Auckland / DenmarkThe Galathea Medal was created by King Frederik IX of Denmark for people who helped the third Danish deep-sea expedition in 1950-52 on the research ship Galathea, which circled the globe to study life at the greatest…
CORONATION OF ELIZABETH II 1953ER
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal 19531953 (NZ Gazette supplement 37, 3 July 1953)Commemorative medal issued in New Zealand for the 1953 coronation.
CBE
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE, Civil)12 June 1958 (Queen's Birthday Honours) · New ZealandArchey's promotion from OBE to CBE came in the 1958 Queen's Birthday Honours, in the New Zealand list, and is credited to his civil work as director of the Auckland Institute and Museum. By then he had led the museum…
Knight BachelorQueen's Birthday Honours 1963 (Gazette 31 May 1963) · New ZealandArchey was knighted in the 1963 Birthday Honours, in the final year of his 40-year directorship of the Auckland Institute and Museum, which he left in early 1964 to become Director Emeritus. The Gazette lists him as…
HECTOR MEMORIAL MEDALH
Hector Memorial Medal (Royal Society of New Zealand)1968 · New ZealandThe Hector Memorial Medal and Prize is the Royal Society of New Zealand's award for scientific achievement. Archey received it in 1968, listed in the field of ethnology on the Wikipedia table of recipients, and the…
CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL★
Congressional Gold Medal (USA) - Monuments Men replicaAwarded collectively 2015 (Public Law 113-116); replica presented to the Archey family and Auckland Museum, 2023 · United StatesThe Congressional Gold Medal was voted by the US Congress in 2014 and presented in 2015 to the Monuments Men and Women as a group, in recognition of their work protecting art and monuments in and after the Second…

His story

  1. Born in York

    Son of schoolmaster Thomas Archey; the family reached New Zealand in 1892-93 and settled in Canterbury.

    Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward

  2. Territorial gunner and museum curator

    Joined the NZ Field Artillery in 1912; MA with honours in zoology at Canterbury College in 1913; assistant curator at Canterbury Museum from 1914.

    Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward

  3. Overseas with the NZEF

    Embarked as a lieutenant with the 22nd Reinforcements on the Aparima (Feb 1917 per Cenotaph; the DNZB says September 1916); 13th Battery, 3rd Brigade NZFA; Passchendaele campaign 1917; pneumonia.

    Source: Online Cenotaph record C85902, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C85902; Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward

  4. Divisional education officer; OBE

    Became a captain and divisional education officer in 1918; returned to New Zealand in 1919; gazetted OBE on 12 Dec 1919.

    Source: London Gazette supplement 31684 p.15457; Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward

  5. Director of the Auckland Institute and Museum

    Appointed director in 1924, oversaw the building that opened on 28 November 1929 and the museum's growth over forty years.

    Source: Online Cenotaph record C85902, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C85902; Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward

  6. Home defence command

    Commanded the 4th Battalion, Auckland Regiment of the National Military Reserve (1942-43 per the Monuments Men Foundation; 1940-43 per another summary).

    Source: Monuments Men and Women Foundation, https://www.mmwf.org/monuments-men-and-women/gilbert-archey; Online Cenotaph record C85902, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C85902

  7. Monuments officer, South East Asia Command

    Lieutenant-colonel on the civil affairs staff of the British Military Administration, the only Monuments officer working in South East Asia (Malaya, Sumatra, Java, Thailand, Indo-China).

    Source: Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward; Auckland Museum blog 'Gilbert Archey, Monuments Man' (2023), https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/stories/blog/2023/gilbert-archey-monuments-man

  8. Galathea Medal, CBE, knighthood, Hector Medal

    Danish Galathea Medal for support of the 1950-52 expedition; CBE 1958; Knight Bachelor 1963; Hector Medal 1968.

    Source: Auckland Museum Collections record 1384513 (Archey's nine-medal bar, accession 2024.46.3), https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/record/1384513; London Gazette 41406, 43012; Te Ara DNZB, 'Archey, Gilbert Edward' (via web archive), https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4a20/archey-gilbert-edward

Rank and insignia

The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.

Lieutenant1917 (embarkation) · NZEFShoulder strap: two pips
Captainby 1919 (OBE gazette) · NZFAShoulder strap: three pips
Lieutenant-colonel1942-1946 (National Military Reserve; SEAC)Shoulder strap: crown and one pip

His ships

Aparima (HMNZT 76)TroopshipEmbarked as lieutenant with 22nd Reinforcements, 16 Feb 1917, to Plymouth, arriving 2 May 1917 (Online Cenotaph).

Afterwards

Archey returned to Canterbury Museum after the war and published mostly zoological papers (centipedes, the native frog Leiopelma, fish and crayfish) before moving to Auckland in 1924. As director he oversaw the move into the Auckland War Memorial Museum building (opened 28 November 1929), raised the funds that the Carnegie Corporation provided in 1935, and wrote the standard monograph on the moa (1941) before turning to Maori carving and art, publishing some thirty works including South Sea Folk, Sculpture and Design and Whaowhia (1977, posthumous).

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand from 1932 and its president in the early 1940s, a member of the University of New Zealand Senate (1941-61) and of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, and was awarded an honorary DSc in 1941 (a degree, not counted here). He retired in 1964 as Director Emeritus and died at his Remuera home in Auckland on 20 October 1974. In 2023 the Monuments Men and Women Foundation recognised him as the only Monuments Man in South East Asia.

Later awards, not counted here: War Medal 1939-1945; New Zealand War Service Medal.

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His sign

This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.

The Service Record for Gilbert Edward Archey
The Service Record

Photograph

We haven’t hosted a photograph here

Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.

Sources

What we could not confirm

Online Cenotaph lists 14 entries. I count 12: removed the 'General Service Medal 1918-62' (not on his nine-medal bar at Auckland Museum, and I could find no service that would qualify him; Malaya clasp is for 1948-60, not 1945-46) and set the Congressional Gold Medal aside (below). The Cenotaph's other 12 entries are all confirmed.

Congressional Gold Medal: a collective award to the Monuments Men and Women (Public Law 113-116, 2015). In 2023 the Foundation gave bronze replicas to his family and Auckland Museum; there is no individual award or presentation to him. Excluded from the 12; would make 13 if accepted.

Honorary DSc (1941) is a degree and Fellowship of the Royal Society of NZ (1932) is a membership; neither counted.

Embarkation conflict: Cenotaph says Feb 1917 (HMNZT 76 Aparima, 22nd Reinforcements); DNZB and Auckland Museum blog say NZEF service 'from September 1916'.

Knight Bachelor year: Gazette and Cenotaph 1963; Auckland Museum blog and MMWF say 1962.

Wikipedia cites the OBE gazette with the wrong date (26 May 1953); Gazette is 12 Dec 1919. Wikipedia and the DNZB say OBE (military) 1919; the Gazette heading reads 'valuable services rendered in connection with the war'.

Jubilee and Coronation Medal evidence is from Wikipedia citations (Evening Post, NZ Gazette) and the medal bar; I did not read the Papers Past or NZ Gazette pages.

WW2 role: DNZB says SEAC civil affairs, Monuments officer, Malaya, lieutenant-colonel 1945-46; the Foundation says he also commanded 4th Bn Auckland Regiment (National Military Reserve) in 1942-43 (another summary says 1940-43). No WW2 campaign star found; none counted.

Te Ara was blocked directly (403); read via a web.archive.org copy.

Born in York, England but arrived in NZ aged two; counts as a New Zealander. He was not decorated for gallantry; WW1 service was as a field artillery officer and education officer. The list's 'who served in WW1' test is met.

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