Voluntary Medical Service Medal
Voluntary Medical Service Medal | |
---|---|
Type | Long service medal |
Awarded for | 15 years of service |
Country | United Kingdom |
Presented by | the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the Dominions |
Eligibility | Volunteers of the British Red Cross or St Andrew's First Aid |
Post-nominals | None |
Clasps | For each subsequent 5 years of service |
Established | 1932 |
Ribbon bar of the medal | |
Precedence | |
Next (higher) | Service Medal of the Order of St John |
Next (lower) | Women's Royal Voluntary Service Medal[1] |
The Voluntary Medical Service Medal is a medal awarded by St Andrew's First Aid and formerly by the British Red Cross. It was instituted in 1932 at the direction of George V.[2]
Criteria
To qualify for the medal, a member must accrue fifteen years' continuous efficient service as a first aid volunteer in either the Red Cross or St Andrew's providing a minimum of ten hours field service per year.[3] Service for the medal was retrospective to the creation of Voluntary Aid Detachments in 1909.[4]
Appearance
The medal is 36 millimetres (1.4 inches) in diameter and was designed by Percy Metcalfe.[5] The obverse bears a symbolic representation of Florence Nightingale carrying a lamp. The reverse features a design of both the Geneva and St Andrew's crosses to denote the two qualifying organisations. Between the upper arms of the St Andrew's Cross is the text LONG AND EFFICIENT SERVICE. The medal was originally made of silver, later of silver plated copper, and since the 1960s of copper-nickel. It is suspended from a straight swivel bar and hangs from a ribbon of red with yellow stripes at the edges and a thin white stripe in the centre.[6][2]
On the suspension ribbon of the medal, clasps embellished with the Geneva cross for Red Cross service or the St Andrew's cross for St Andrews First Aid service are worn to denote five additional years of qualifying service. In undress uniform, on the ribbon of the medal, one silver Geneva or St Andrew's cross emblem is added to the medal ribbon for five additional years of service.[2] At twenty years of additional service the silver emblems are replaced by a silver-gilt emblem. Up to four silver-gilt emblems can replace the silver type to denote 25, 30, and 35 years of additional service in the applicable voluntary organisation.[4]
References
- ^ "No. 62529". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 January 2019. p. 327.
- ^ a b c John Mussell (ed). Medal Yearbook 2015. p. 253. Published by Token Publishing Ltd. Honiton, Devon.
- ^ Captain H. Taprell Dorling. Ribbons and Medals. p. 129. Published A.H.Baldwin & Sons, London. 1956.
- ^ a b "British Red Cross Museum. Museum and archives > Historical collections > Medals and badges". British Red Cross. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ Order and Medals Society of America Journal, page 4, Volume 2, 1955.
- ^ "Voluntary Medical Service Medal". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- v
- t
- e
meritorious
and long
service medals
- Meritorious Service Medal
- Meritorious Service Medal (Australia)
- Meritorious Service Medal (Cape of Good Hope)
- Meritorious Service Medal (Natal)
- Meritorious Service Medal (New Zealand)
- Meritorious Service Medal (South Africa)
- Accumulated Campaign Service Medal
- Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Cape of Good Hope)
- Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Natal)
- Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal
- Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military)
- Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (South Africa)
- Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1830)
- Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1848)
- Indian Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (for Europeans of Indian Army)
- Indian Meritorious Service Medal (for Europeans of Indian Army)
- Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Ulster Defence Regiment)
- Indian Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (for Indian Army)
- Royal West African Frontier Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- King's African Rifles Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Sierra Leone Military Forces Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Trans-Jordan Frontier Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Indian Meritorious Service Medal (for Indian Army)
service medals
- Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Fire and Rescue Service Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- African Police Medal for Meritorious Service
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal
- Ceylon Police Long Service Medal
- Ceylon Fire Services Long Service Medal
- Sierra Leone Police Long Service Medal
- Colonial Police Long Service Medal
- Sierra Leone Fire Brigades Long Service Medal
- Mauritius Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Mauritius Fire Services Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
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- Colonial Fire Brigades Long Service Medal
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- Hong Kong Disciplined Services Medal
- Ambulance Service (Emergency Duties) Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service Medal
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- Royal Ulster Constabulary Service Medal
- Northern Ireland Prison Service Medal
- National Crime Agency Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Police Service of Northern Ireland Service Medal
- Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
and part-time
long service
decorations
and medals
- Emergency Reserve Decoration
- Volunteer Officers' Decoration
- Volunteer Long Service Medal
- Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies
- Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies
- Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration
- Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal
- Militia Long Service Medal
- Imperial Yeomanry Long Service Medal
- Special Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Territorial Decoration
- Ceylon Armed Services Long Service Medal
- Efficiency Decoration
- Territorial Force Efficiency Medal
- Territorial Efficiency Medal
- Efficiency Medal
- Army Emergency Reserve Efficiency Medal
- Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve
- Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
- Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Fleet Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Naval Wireless Auxiliary Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Royal Naval Auxiliary Service Long Service Medal
- Air Efficiency Award
- Volunteer Reserves Service Medal
- Ulster Defence Regiment Medal
- Northern Ireland Home Service Medal
- Cadet Forces Medal
- H.M. Coastguard Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Special Constabulary Long Service Medal
- Royal Observer Corps Medal
- Civil Defence Long Service Medal
- Jersey Honorary Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
- Service Medal of the Order of St John
- Voluntary Medical Service Medal
- Women's Royal Voluntary Service Medal
- South African Medal for War Services
- Colonial Special Constabulary Medal