A successful oarsman, a decorated soldier and an author on heraldry, John Pinches was perhaps best known for administering his family’s medal-making business, which produced orders and decorations for governments, commemorative issues for much of the Commonwealth, and badges and insignia in Britain. The firm, founded by Pinches’ great-great-uncle in 1840, had a distinguished reputation for manufacturing medals and metallic art. It was sold to the Franklin Mint of Philadelphia in 1969.

John Pinches was born in Chelsea in 1916 of an artistic family. After attending the Chelsea Polytechnic and two years’ engineering training Pinches joined the family firm. On the outbreak of the war he was commissioned into the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment but was then transferred to the REME because of his engineering qualifications. He served in North Africa, Palestine, Greece and Italy.

On September 22, 1943, the British advance was held up in Salerno by a lorry and antitank gun, which had broken down, blocking a bridge. Under enemy fire Pinches pulled a heavy winch rope across the bridge to the damaged vehicle so that it could be towed out of the way. Pinches received the Military Cross for this exploit. He subsequently served in the occupation of Austria before being demobilised as lieutenant-colonel.

His rowing career had been flourishing before the war. He was a member of the London Rowing Club crews, which won events at Henley for four successive years from 1935, including the Grand Challenge Cup, the leading race for eights at the Regatta, in 1938.

In 1947, with Edward Sturges, he won the Silver Goblets for pairs, after a semi-final victory over Thames by six feet, one of the most memorable at the Regatta of that decade. He was later approached by the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA) to make up a crew with Richard Burnell, subsequently rowing correspondent for The Times and The Sunday Times, for the 1948 Olympics, which were to be held on the Henley course. Pinches said he would do so only if there were proper trials, something that was not customary in that era. The ARA declined and paired Burnell with Bert Bushnell, and they won the double sculls title at the Games. Their gold medals were manufactured by Pinches’ own firm, which had been commissioned by the London Olympic organisers to provide medals for all the rowing events.

Pinches was captain of the London Rowing Club in 1952 and did much to revive its standards after the war. Ebullient and enthusiastic, with a hearty laugh, he would sometimes urge his own crews along by shouting “faster, faster” as he himself strained at the oars. He continued to row competitively until he was 60, his last victory being at Tours, France, in an international veterans’ regatta in 1976. As an international coach he attended world and European championships, as well as the 1960 Olympics in Rome, when he was advising the coxless and coxed fours.

After the sale of the family firm in 1969 he and his wife, Rosemary, moved to Wiltshire. She had worked at the Royal College of Arms and then established her own heraldry and genealogy business, Heraldry Today, in 1954. Together they wrote The Royal Heraldry of England in 1974 and then, subsequently, he was the author, among other books, of European Nobility and Heraldry in 1994.

He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

John Pinches, MC, oarsman, soldier, medal-maker and author, was born on April 9, 1916. He died on July 2, 2007, aged 91