Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

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Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Edward VII).jpg
King Edward VII version with original all-green ribbon
TypeMilitary long service medal
Awarded forTwelve years service
Country Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Presented by the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India
EligibilityPart-time ratings of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Clasps Twelve years additional service
StatusStill current in New Zealand
Established1908
Ribbon - Volunteer Long Service Medal.png Ribbon - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.png
Original and post-1919 ribbon bars
Order of wear
Next (higher) Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
Next (lower) Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, initially designated the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service Medal, was instituted in 1908. It could be awarded to part-time ratings in the United Kingdom's Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve after twelve years of service and good conduct. The medal was a Naval version of the Volunteer Long Service Medal and its successor, the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

The medal could also be awarded to part-time ratings in the Naval Volunteer Reserves of Dominion and Colonial Auxiliary Forces throughout the British Empire. [5]

The award of the medal was discontinued in the United Kingdom in 1966, when the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, composed of civilian volunteers, was merged with the Royal Naval Reserve, composed of Merchant Navy seamen. It was superseded by its identical sister medal, the Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. [1]

The New Zealand version, the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, is still being awarded. [5] [6]

Origins

The Volunteer Long Service Medal was instituted in 1894 as an award for long service by other ranks of the United Kingdom's Volunteer Force. In 1896, the grant of the medal was extended by Royal Warrant to other ranks of the Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire and a separate new medal was instituted, the Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies. [7] [8] [9]

In 1899, the Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies was superseded by the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal, for award to part-time members of all ranks in recognition of long service in any of the organized military forces of the Dominion of Canada and the British Colonies, Dependencies and Protectorates. [10]

In 1908, the Volunteer Long Service Medal was superseded in the United Kingdom by the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal. In the same year, a pair of distinctive Naval medals were instituted, specifically to reward long and meritorious service by part-time ratings of the Royal Naval Reserve, composed of Merchant Navy seamen, and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, composed of civilian volunteers. [2] [11]

Institution

The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service Medal was instituted in 1908 as a long service award for part-time ratings of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Colonies and India. At some point between 1936 and 1941, the title of the medal was changed to Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. It was one of a pair of Naval long service medals which were instituted simultaneously, the other being the Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, which had different time-served requirements. [1] [3] [4]

The two medals are identical and can only be identified by the reserve branch abbreviation impressed on the rim after the recipient's details, "R.N.R." on the Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and "R.N.V.R." on the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Both were initially hung from the same all-green ribbon inherited from the Volunteer Long Service Medal, until a new ribbon was introduced for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1919. [1] [12]

When a third identical medal, the Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, impressed "R.N.A.S.B.R.", was added to the group in 1919, a clasp to recognise further periods of long service in respect of all three medals was authorised in an Admiralty Fleet Order. This was followed in 1942 by the approval of a ribbon bar rosette, to denote the award of a clasp when ribbons alone are worn. [1]

The medal was also awarded by several countries in the British Empire.

Award criteria

The medal could be awarded to part-time Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve ratings after twelve years of efficient service, not necessarily continuous. Wartime service counted as double time for the purpose of reckoning eligibility for the medal. The clasp to the medal could be awarded for a second twelve-year qualifying period of service. [1] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] Even fictional character like James Bond were awarded it for their service.

Order of wear

In the order of wear prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal takes precedence after the Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and before the Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. [17]

South Africa

With effect from 6 April 1952, when a new South African set of decorations and medals was instituted to replace the British awards used to date, the older British decorations and medals which were applicable to South Africa continued to be worn in the same order of precedence but, with the exception of the Victoria Cross, took precedence after all South African decorations and medals awarded to South Africans on or after that date. Of the official British medals which were applicable to South Africans, the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal takes precedence as shown. [17] [18] [19]

Ribbon - Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.png Ribbon - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.png Ribbon - Air Efficiency Award.png

Description

The medal was struck in silver and is a disk, 36 millimetres (1.42 inches) in diameter, with a raised rim on each side. It is suspended from a straight silver bar, swivelling on some versions and, on all but the second Queen Elizabeth II version, affixed to the medal by means of a single-toe claw and a pin through the upper edge of the medal. [1] [15]

First King George V version Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (George V) v1.jpg
First King George V version
Second King George V version Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (George V) v2.jpg
Second King George V version
First King George VI version Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (George VI) v1.jpg
First King George VI version
Second King George VI and first Queen Elizabeth II versions Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (G VI v2 & E II).jpg
Second King George VI and first Queen Elizabeth II versions
Second Queen Elizabeth II version Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Elizabeth II) v2.jpg
Second Queen Elizabeth II version
Obverse

The obverse bears the effigy of the reigning monarch. Seven versions of the medal have been awarded. [1]

Reverse

The reverse depicts a starboard broadside view of HMS Dreadnought, the Royal Navy battleship which entered service in 1906. It is inscribed "DIUTURNE FIDELIS" ("Faithful Over Time" or "For long and faithful service") underneath. The design was by British sculptor Ernest George Gillick ARA, whose wife designed the obverse of the two Queen Elizabeth II versions of the medal. [1] [14] [15] [21] [25]

Clasp

The clasp, decorated in a leaf pattern, was struck in silver and designed to be attached to the medal suspension. [14]

Ribbons

Two ribbons were used with the medal. [1]

Discontinuation

In the United Kingdom and some countries of the Commonwealth, the medal was gradually superseded by new medals. [1] [14] [18]

New Zealand continues to award the medal as the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, instituted by Royal Warrant of 6 May 1985, for fifteen years of accumulated service, during which the rating must have been rated as efficient in at least twelve. The clasp can be awarded for each additional ten years of qualifying service. [5] [28] [29]

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Air Efficiency Award

The Air Efficiency Award, post-nominal letters AE for officers, was instituted in 1942. It could be awarded after ten years of meritorious service to officers, airmen and airwomen in the Auxiliary and Volunteer Air Forces of the United Kingdom and the Territorial Air Forces and Air Force Reserves of the Dominions, the Indian Empire, Burma, the Colonies and Protectorates.

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Efficiency Medal Award

The Efficiency Medal was instituted in 1930 for award to part-time warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men after twelve years of efficient service on the active list of the Militia or the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom, or of the other Auxiliary Military Forces throughout the British Empire. At the same time a clasp was instituted for award to holders of the medal upon completion of further periods of six years of efficient service.

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Efficiency Decoration Award

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Efficiency Decoration (South Africa) Award

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Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal Award

The Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1899 as a military long service award for part-time members of all ranks in any of the organized military forces of the British Colonies, Dependencies and Protectorates throughout the British Empire. The medal gradually superseded the Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies in all these territories, with the exception of the Isle of Man, Bermuda and the Indian Empire.

Meritorious Service Medal (Natal) Award

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References

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  2. 1 2 "No. 32300". The London Gazette . 22 April 1921. p. 3185.
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  4. 1 2 The London Gazette: no. 35141. p. 2288. 24 April 1941 (Accessed on 31 July 2015)
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  6. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet – Other Distinctive New Zealand Honours (Accessed 25 July 2015)
  7. Mayo, John Horsley (1897). Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Vol. II, 1897 (No. 224. Volunteer Long Service, 1894.). London: A. Constable. p. 495.
  8. "No. 26516". The London Gazette . 26 May 1894. p. 3115.
  9. Mayo, John Horsley (1897). Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Vol. II, 1897 (No. 225. Volunteer Long Service Medal for Indian and Colonial Forces, 1896.). London: A. Constable. p. 499.
  10. "No. 27085". The London Gazette . 2 June 1899. p. 3517.
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  13. 1 2 McCreery, Christopher (2011). The Canadian Forces' Decoration (PDF). Ottawa: Directorate of Honours and Recognition National Defence Headquarters. pp. 12–13. (Accessed 26 May 2015)
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal & Decoration (Accessed 27 July 2015)
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Veterans Affairs Canada – Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Accessed 30 July 2015)
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  17. 1 2 "No. 56878". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 March 2003. p. 3353.
  18. 1 2 3 South African Government Notice no. 1982 of 1 October 1954 – Order of Precedence of Orders, Decorations and Medals, published in the South African Government Gazette of 1 October 1954.
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  29. New Zealand Legislation – The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (SR 1985/94) (Accessed 31 July 2015)