HER Majesty The Queen will honour the memory of thousands of service personnel who have given their lives for this country by giving her name to a new medal, it was announced today.

The Elizabeth Cross will be granted to the next of kin of Armed Forces personnel killed on operations or as a result of terrorism in a mark of national recognition for their loss.

This is the first time the name of a reigning Monarch has been given to a new award since the George Cross was instituted in 1940.

The next of kin will receive the Elizabeth Cross – a sterling silver emblem, in the shape of a cross over a wreath - plus a Memorial Scroll signed by The Queen which will bear the name of the person who died.

Among the Derbyshire families who will receive the new honour will be those of Drummer Thomas Wright, from Ripley, Private Ben Ford, from Chesterfield, and Brian Tunnicliffe, originally from Ilkeston, who were all killed in Afghanistan in 2007.

The families of Corporal Russ Aston, of Newhall, who died in 2003 in Iraq and Martin Jessop, of Chaddesden, killed in Northern Ireland in 1982, will also receive the medal and certificate.