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July 1, 2018 at 10:11 am #35804
I have been skiving today, but with good reason. Avşar Ibar was kind enough to send me a copy of his book Ottoman Empire’s Order of the Medjidie and Order of the Osmanie, and I curled up in the sun to write a review of it.
Normal service will be resumed next week.
July 15, 2018 at 9:08 am #35857I’m back! Sorry, last weekend got a bit busy…
Today I’ve added the short-lived Ulster Defence Regiment Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct. This was awarded to full-time members of the regiment, part-timers received a different medal which I shall present later on. Also, we have the Volunteer Officer’s Decoration, the first in a whole series of awards for reservist officers who, unlike their regular service brothers, received long service awards. This one was awarded between 1892 and 1908 (when the Volunteer Reserve was renamed the Territorial Force), and conferred the post-nominal letters VD.
July 22, 2018 at 9:42 am #35913Today I added the Volunteer Long Service Medal, awarded for service in the ranks of the volunteers. Some authorities claim that there are TWO medals: this one and the Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies… but there wasn’t a separate Royal Warrant to institute the second, merely an Army Order. Interestingly, the reverse remained constant, it was the way in which the relevant monarch’s titles were inscribed around their portrait on the obverse that differed! The Medals Year Book, which I’m using as the primary guide for this survey of British Medals, has it as a single award with variants, so that’s how it has been presented here.
July 29, 2018 at 11:18 am #35920More reservist awards today (and plenty more to come!), with the Territorial Decoration for officers and the Territorial Force Efficiency Medal for other ranks. These were relatively short-lived, 1908-1930, reflecting changes in the names of reserve organisations.
In 1908, the Volunteers were renamed the Territorial Force, which also included the Yeomanry (mainly rural volunteer cavalry units). There was also a separate Militia, which became the Special Reserve. In 1930, the Territorial Force became the Territorial Army (and new awards were produced to reward service therin)… but more of those next time!
August 5, 2018 at 10:42 am #35931This afternoon I added the Territorial Efficiency Medal, a short-lived award (1921-1930) used when the name of the Territorial Force was changed to Territorial Army (so they needed to change the wording on the reverse).
Next is the Efficiency Decoration, instituted in 1930. This has quite a few variations, especially as it now has an inscription on the top brooch which changed from TERRITORIAL to T&AVR (Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve) in 1969 and back to TERRITORIAL in 1982. This resulted in a ribbon change in 1969 as well, although it was kept on after 1982, and of course Honourable Artillery Company officers had their special ribbon (and at last I’ve found some specimens to show you!). Now this decoration was also awarded to officers in the Indian Volunteer Forces and the Colonial Auxiliary Forces – which led to a vast array of different top brooches, although I’ve only found a single CANADA one so far. The search continues…
Next time, the Efficiency Medal awarded to other ranks 1930-2000, which also has a lot of variants to hunt down 🙂
August 12, 2018 at 12:17 pm #36027Today I have been sifting through literal mountains of Efficiency Medals (there are over 30 variants for the first issue King George VI one alone!) and will begin posting them next time.
August 19, 2018 at 8:59 am #36046Added the George V Efficiency Medals – 19 variations!
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