Sources and what we could not confirm
- Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph: Arthur Coningham
- London Gazette supplement 30287, 17 September 1917, p. 9566 (Military Cross)
- London Gazette supplement 30308, 26 September 1917, p. 9968 (DSO)
- London Gazette supplement 30466, 9 January 1918, p. 561 (DSO citation)
- London Gazette supplement 31378, 3 June 1919, p. 7031 (DFC)
- Edinburgh Gazette supplement 13458, 5 June 1919, p. 2047 (DFC)
- London Gazette supplement 37362, 23 November 1945, p. 5703 (Belgian Croix de Guerre with palm: WW2)
- Vincent Orange, Coningham: A Biography of Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham (full text, Internet Archive)
- Wikipedia: Arthur Coningham (RAF officer)
- Air of Authority (rafweb): Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: Sir Arthur Coningham
- Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph: Arthur Coningham (C36547)
- London Gazette supplement 33119, 1 January 1926, p. 10 (Air Force Cross)
- London Gazette supplement 32945, 11 June 1924, p. 4664 (Mention in Despatches, Kurdistan 1923)
- London Gazette supplement 35029, 1 January 1941, p. 33 (Mention in Despatches)
- London Gazette supplement 35284, 24 September 1941, p. 5567 (CB)
- London Gazette supplement 35586, 11 June 1942, p. 2516 (Mention in Despatches)
- London Gazette third supplement 35801, 27 November 1942, p. 5149 (KCB)
- London Gazette supplement 37362, 23 November 1945, p. 5703 (Order of Leopold, Belgian Croix de Guerre)
- London Gazette supplement 37407, 1 January 1946, p. 32 (KBE)
- London Gazette supplement 38125, 18 November 1947, p. 5423 (Order of Orange-Nassau)
- London Gazette supplement 38120, 14 November 1947 (retirement 7 Nov 1947)
- London Gazette supplement 30421, 11 December 1917, p. 12923 (Mention in Despatches)
- Vincent Orange, Coningham: A Biography of Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham (Internet Archive full text)
- Air of Authority (rafweb): Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham
- Wikipedia: Arthur Coningham (RAF officer)
- Wikipedia: List of recipients of the Legion of Merit
- Wikipedia: New Zealand War Service Medal (eligibility)
GALLANTRY COUNT SETTLED AT 3 (MC, DSO, DFC), not the 5 in the earlier candidate list. All three are confirmed in the London Gazette.
DFC: confirmed in London Gazette supplement 31378 of 3 June 1919, p. 7031 (Edinburgh Gazette 5 June 1919, p. 2047), listed as 'Capt. (A./Maj.) Arthur Coningham, D.S.O., M.C.' under France. No citation was published. The candidate note's '1918' DFC date was wrong; it is June 1919.
French Croix de Guerre: NOT confirmed for WW1. Online Cenotaph lists 'Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 (France)', but no London Gazette entry, Orange passage or other source places a French Croix de Guerre in 1914-18. Orange says only that he was 'mentioned in French Army orders four times in a fortnight' in 1917, which is not a gazetted award, and that on 23 June 1944 he became an Officer of the Legion of Honour with Croix de Guerre (WW2). Treat as unverified for WW1 and do not count.
Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm: this is a WW2 award, confirmed by London Gazette supplement 37362 (23 November 1945, p. 5703), conferred with the Order of Leopold for services in the war; Orange says it was invested on 8 November 1946 in Brussels. Online Cenotaph lists it among his medals but it is not a WW1 award, so it is excluded from the count.
Mentions in despatches: Wikipedia says four, rafweb gives one (11 December 1917), Online Cenotaph lists one without a date. Only one is shown here, not counted, and not verified in the Gazette.
Birth date: Orange and Wikipedia give 19 January 1895 (Brisbane); rafweb gives 11 March 1895. Online Cenotaph notes both. 19 January is used.
NZ connection: born in Brisbane (confirmed), raised in Wellington (family there by about 1906, when he was 11) and educated at Wellington College (confirmed), NZEF service in Samoa and at Gallipoli with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles (confirmed by Orange and Online Cenotaph). Wikipedia's mention of 'Somaliland' is an error; Orange has Egypt and Gallipoli. However, he was discharged from the NZEF in April 1916 and all his gallantry awards were won in British service (RFC/RAF), so ranking him with 'New Zealanders' depends on the inclusion rule.
Posting date to 32 Squadron: Orange and Wikipedia say 19 December 1916; rafweb lists 8 December 1916 as his pilot posting.
Victory totals vary by source: nine (Haigh and Polaschek), 14 (Aerodrome.com), 19 (rafweb); Orange's reading of the squadron records puts his 32 Squadron personal tally at about seven destroyed plus three shared. Not used as a headline figure.
Online Cenotaph also lists a 'New Zealand War Service Medal' under his medals; this is not counted (not a WW1 medal as far as could be established).
totalMedalsCount of 7 = MC, DSO, DFC, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, and one MiD. The medals themselves were not checked against a medal roll.
WHOLE-CAREER TOTAL = 28 by the counting rule: 7 already in coningham.json (MC, DSO, DFC, 1914-15 Star, BWM, Victory Medal, MiD emblem) plus 21 new items. CONFIRMED beyond Online Cenotaph (Gazette, Orange, rafweb or Wikipedia): the 7 WW1 items and 12 new ones (AFC, CB, KCB, KBE, Legion of Honour, French Croix de Guerre, Legion of Merit, US DSM, Order of Leopold, Belgian Croix de Guerre, Phoenix, Orange-Nassau) = 19. The remaining 9 (GSM Kurdistan, Jubilee 1935, Coronation 1937, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Air Crew Europe Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45) rest on Online Cenotaph alone and are entitlement-plausible but unverified. If only confirmed items are wanted the total is 19.
HOW THE 27 CENOTAPH ENTRIES RECONCILE: 27 entries; minus the New Zealand War Service Medal (not eligible: RAF service, not NZ forces) = 26. Duplicates and double listings inside those 26: 'Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 (France)' is the single French Croix de Guerre (era uncertain, one item); 'Grand Cordon de l'Ordre de Leopold' is the Order of Leopold Grand Officer per the Gazette (one item); 'War Medal 1939-1945 with oak leaf' plus 'Mentioned in Despatches' share one MiD emblem (counted once). Cenotaph omissions added: CB (1941) and Order of Orange-Nassau (1947). 26 + 2 = 28.
MENTIONS IN DESPATCHES: four in total, all confirmed in the Gazette: 11 Dec 1917 (supplement 30421, p. 12923), 11 Jun 1924 (32945, p. 4664, Kurdistan 1923), 1 Jan 1941 (35029, p. 33), 11 Jun 1942 (35586, p. 2516). Wikipedia's 'four' is therefore right. Counted as ONE item under the rule. Pure emblem count could argue for one per war (oak leaf on the Victory Medal and the War Medal), which would raise the total by 1.
CB AND KCB: counted as two items (two separate appointments, 1941 and 1942) as well as the KBE (1946). If a single Order of the Bath is counted once, the total drops to 27 (18 confirmed).
GALLANTRY COUNT: WW1 = 3 (MC, DSO, DFC), from coningham.json. Whole career = 6: those three plus the AFC (flying award, non-combat) and the French and Belgian Croix de Guerre. Strictly British combat gallantry stays at 3. The US Legion of Merit and DSM are service/merit awards and are not counted as gallantry.
FRENCH AWARDS: Orange says the Legion of Honour (as Officer) and the Croix de Guerre were announced in the London Gazette on 23 June 1944; I searched the Gazette issues numbered 36545-36600 (June 1944) and found no entry for him, so that is unverified. rafweb dates the French pair '191?', Online Cenotaph labels the Croix de Guerre '1914-1918', Wikipedia lists a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Only one Legion of Honour and one French Croix de Guerre are counted either way; the grade and the war are unresolved.
LEGION OF MERIT DATE: rafweb 27 Aug 1943; Orange (1944 passage) 27 July. Unresolved; the grade (Chief Commander) is not in doubt.
US DSM: presented by Truman at Frankfurt on 26 July 1945 (Orange; NARA photograph); rafweb gives 3 Aug 1945 as the date. Not found in the Gazette.
ORDER OF ORANGE-NASSAU: not on the Online Cenotaph list. The Gazette of 18 Nov 1947 shows it as Knight Grand Cross (the same list also has a 'with swords' sub-grade; swords are a distinction, not a separate item). It was gazetted 11 days after he retired and 10 weeks before he vanished.
NOT COUNTED: Freedom of the City of Brussels (April 1946, Orange) and the renaming of a Brussels avenue after him; honorary city freedom is not a medal, order or decoration. The refused '8' for the Eighth Army ribbon is a clasp request, not an item. Orange also notes he was never made GCB or Air Chief Marshal. The 1914 Samoa service produced no separate medal.
Wikipedia's infobox says 'Order of Leopold II' where the Gazette says Order of Leopold; the Gazette is followed.
WW1 SERVICE (CONFIRMED): Coningham served in the NZEF in 1914-16: enlisted 10 Aug 1914 in the 5th (Wellington) Regiment for the Samoa expedition, then a trooper in the Canterbury Mounted Rifles at Gallipoli in 1915 (Online Cenotaph embarkations HMNZT 2 and HMNZT 23, service numbers 1/456 and 7/1177; Orange; rafweb). Discharged medically unfit 1 April 1916, then paid his own way to England and joined the RFC.
AGAINST LISTING HIM AS A NEW ZEALANDER OF THAT WAR: he was born in Brisbane (some sources say 11 March 1895), left the NZEF in April 1916, won every WW1 gallantry award in British service (RFC/RAF, with a Special Reserve commission), served in the RAF for the rest of his career, and was a British knight. The NZ case rests on his Wellington upbringing, Wellington College, his NZEF service in 1914-16 and the 'Mary' nickname. Wikipedia's 'Somaliland' is an error (Orange: Egypt and Gallipoli).