Volunteer Force Long Service Medal, Victoria Regina et Imper...

Estimate

£80 - £140

Volunteer Force Long Service Medal, Victoria Regina et Imperatrix obverse; named to: Quartermaster Sergeant J Patterson N W Ry Volr Rifles. This medal has engraved naming in exceptionally neat flowing script, which is a
tribute to the engraver’s art. The Bengal and North Western Railway Volunteer Rifles was a volunteer battalion of the Indian Army raised in 1879 from the staff of the North Western Railway. Service with the Volunteer Rifle Corps in India was effectively de rigueur for employees of
the Indian government railway companies. The Volunteer Long Service Medal was initially instituted in 1894 as a logical follow up to the introduction of the Volunteer
Officers Decoration in 1892. The award of the medal was extended overseas to the Volunteer Forces of the Empire, including India, by a Royal Warrant dated 13 June
1896. Awards were published under the provisions of Clause 152, India Army Circulars, 1895 (dated 1 October 1895), which stated that the medal would be
granted to all volunteers – including volunteers who have retired – on completion of twenty years efficient service in the Volunteer Force and subject to recommendation.
The medal was replaced by the Efficiency Medal (India) in 1930, although awards of the old medal continued on a reducing scale until 1939, with one award actually
recorded in 1945. Awards to members of the Indian Volunteer Forces were published in two sources:
from 1896 to 1903 in the Gazette of India and then from 1903 onwards in India Army Orders. Total awards of the Indian Volunteer Long Service Medal amount to 15,276
over the period of its existence, which reflects the size of the Indian Volunteer Force (later the Auxiliary Forces of India, AFI) and the duty commitment of its volunteers.
The medals were produced by the Calcutta Mint.
Good Very Fine (GVF) condition.