The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King William IV in 1830. The medal remained in use for 100 years, until it was replaced by the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military) in 1930. During that time the reverse of the medal remained virtually unchanged, while the design of the obverse was altered during the reigns of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V.
Institution
The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King William IV in 1830, for award to soldiers for long service and good conduct. It was the first non-campaign medal of the British Army.
The obverse of the original medal showed a Trophy of Arms that incorporated a central shield bearing the Royal Coat of Arms, with the House of Hanover Shield in its centre. On the Queen Victoria version, introduced after her succession to the throne in 1837, the Hanover emblem was removed from the central shield. Upon the succession of King Edward VII to the throne in 1901, his effigy was placed on the medal's obverse, followed by the effigy of King George V in 1910.
Award criteria
The medal was initially awarded to soldiers in the ranks of the Regular Force who had completed 21 years of service in the infantry or 24 years in the cavalry. From 1870 the qualifying period was reduced and the medal was awarded to Regular Force non-commissioned officers and men who had completed eighteen years of irreproachable service, irrespective whether the service was in the infantry or the cavalry.
A recipient who was subsequently awarded the Meritorious Service Medal had to stop wearing the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
Adoption
On 31 May 1895 Queen Victoria authorised Dominion and Colonial governments to adopt various military medals, including the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and to award them to their local military forces. Territories that took advantage of the authorisation include Canada, Cape of Good Hope, India, Natal, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and, from 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia.
These territorial medals were identical to the Victoria and Edward VII versions of the medal, but with the name of each respective territory inscribed in a curved line above the usual inscription on the reverse of their respective medals. In addition, instead of a plain crimson ribbon, the ribbon of each territorial medal has a 4 millimetres wide band added in the centre, in a colour to represent the specific territory.
The award of these territorial versions of the medal was discontinued when the Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal was instituted in 1910 as a single common award for long service and good conduct in the Permanent or Regular Forces of the Dominions and Colonies.
Order of wear
In the order of wear prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and its territorial versions rank on par with the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military) that replaced it in 1930. It takes precedence after the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal and before the Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1830).
Description
The medal was struck in silver and is a disk, in diameter and thick. Apart from the different obverse designs that came into use with each successive monarch, the suspension of the medal evolved over the years from a small or large ring to a plain curved bar suspender, and eventually an ornamented scroll pattern suspender that was initially a swivelling type and finally a fixed non-swivelling type.
Reverse
The reverse of all versions of the medal is smooth with a raised rim and bears the inscription "FOR LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT" in four straight lines in the centre. The inscription is underlined by two spear blades, which evolved from three tied balls between the two blades on early versions of the medal to three separate balls between the blades on later versions.
Ribbon
The ribbon was plain crimson from the medal's institution until 1916, initially wide for the early small ring suspender medals and thereafter wide for the subsequent medals with a large ring or bar suspenders. The same plain crimson ribbon was used with the Victoria Cross, but with a miniature button emblem of the Cross worn on the ribbon bar in undress.
From June 1916 a new ribbon was used, at times crimson or sometimes reddish violet, and edged with 3 millimetres wide white bands.