Medals Wanted - Herbert Nelson BASTON, Royal Welsh Fusiliers

3693 Herbert Nelson Masson BASTON was a long-serving soldier who enlisted with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in September 1892. By 1910 he had already served overseas in Malta, Crete, Egypt, China, India and Burma, and when Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914, he again served overseas in Egypt. In November 1915, and by now a regimental quarter master sergeant, he was discharged to commission and continued to serve with the 3/7th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

I now seek the medals awarded to this man which are as follows:

China Medal 1900, 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Long Service Good Conduct Medal.

Herbert Nelson Masson Baston was born in India on the 9th October 1876, the son of Elizabeth Catherine Sophia McDougal Baston, and Edward Baston. Edward was employed as headmaster at the Diocesan School in Naini Tal, and Herbert was baptised at Naini Tal by his father, a deacon at the church, on the 12th November 1876.

When, many years later, on the 12th September 1892, Herbert enlisted with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Clonmel in Ireland, he gave his age as 17 years and 10 months. In actual fact though, he would have been a month short of his sixteenth birthday.

Surviving papers in series WO 363 show that when he enlisted, Herbert gave his next of kin as his father (by now a minister) as the Reverend Edward Baston of Dinorwic Street, Caernarfon. His description on enlistment was given as height 5 foot 8 inches, weight 115 Lbs; complexion fresh; blue eyes and dark brown hair. 

Service with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Herbert's papers show that he joined the army as Herbert N M Baston, although his second middle name 'Masson' is dropped from First World War medal records. The first of his many promotions took place on the 23rd March 1894 when he was appointed lance-corporal, and this was followed by promotion to corporal on the 31st March 1895.   He was appointed lance-sergeant on the 6th August 1896 and promoted to sergeant on the 12th August 1898. On the 23rd May 1905 he was promoted to colour sergeant and appointed orderly room sergeant. On the 10th July 1915, Herbert was appointed acting company sergeant major and on the 20th November 1915 he was discharged on appointment as quarter master and honorary lieutenant, continuing his service with the 3/7th Royal Welsh Fusiliers. There are papers held at The National Archives which chart his service as an officer.

Medal entitlement - medals wanted

Herbert earned campaign medals for China (China Medal 1900 with clasp, Relief of Pekin) and the First World War, (1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Inter-Allied Victory Medal). He was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in November 1915, and the Army Long Service & Good Conduct Medal in April 1917. In addition to his medals, he was also awarded a silver war badge. If you know of the whereabouts of these medals and the silver war badge, or are the current owner and would be willing to sell them, please let me know: paul@britisharmyancestors.co.uk

Service with Frank Richards, Old Soldier Sahib

Author and Royal Welsh Fusiliers career soldier Frank Richards served overseas in India and Burma at the same time that Herbert Baston was in those countries and Frank would almost certainly have known of him. Frank Richards' account of life in India in the first decade of the 1900s is still arguably the best account of soldiering in the ranks and both Old Soldier Sahib which details those events, and his later work, Old Soldiers Never Die, which picks up the story in 1914, are well worth reading.

Herbert was twice married. He married Annie Gregory in Malta on the 22nd February 1897 and she bore him six children. Annie died in September 1909 and Herbert subsequently married Violet Gregory in August 1911 who bore him a further two children by 1913. Herbert and Annie's two youngest children, Isabella Annie Baston and James Nelson Baston died in infancy in 1907 and 1908 respectively. 

The image on this page is courtesy the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum and shows officers of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers either en route to or returning from China in 1900.

Military Medal 1914-1920

Findmypast has added the Military Medal 1914-1920 to its growing collection of medals and citations. It has also re-organised medals into a single search under the title: Campaign, Gallantry & Long Service Medals & Awards.

Clicking on the link above will take you directly to the main search screen. Use the "Browse medal Type" filter to narrow down the search to a particular medal or medals.

The Military Medal 1914-1920 collection is the most comprehensively indexed version online and there has been a good deal of clean-up on the regiments that is missing from, for instance, the National Archives' version. Registration paper, schedule, reference, and gazette date have all been indexed and are all searchable fields using the "additional keywords" field on the main search screen.

And if you're quick, for this Remembrance Weekend only, all military records are completely free on Findmypast.

5942061 RQMS John William Beeby Gale, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment

Medals: 1914 Star (with clasp) Trio, Army LSGC.

A few weeks before Christmas I was delighted to acquire the medals of a man I had first come across in 1981. The image above appeared in an autograph album kept by a Broomfield-born VAD nurse, Edith Oliver. She had moved to Chailey in Sussex before the First World War and worked as a Lady's Companion to Margaret Blencowe in the village. She joined the local VAD detachment - Sussex 54 VAD - and between 1914 and 1918 she nursed at two auxiliary hospitals: Hickwells in Chailey and Beechlands (or Beechlands House) at the neighbouring village of Newick. John Gale was one of many men - albeit probably one of the most senior NCOs - who she cared for during her time with the VAD detachment. This is John Gale's story.

He was born at Ellington, Huntingdonshire in September 1877, the son of Angelina Gale (nee Smith) and Charles Gale who had married at Huntingdon in 1871. On 23rd October 1905 he enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment aged 18 years and one month. He gave his trade as farm labourer and became 8355 Pte John W B Gale.

In all probability, John Gale's military career would have begun with 10 weeks' drill at the regimental depot at Bedford followed by two years' service in the UK. This would then have been followed by service overseas and by 1907 the 2nd Battalion was in Gibraltar, would move to Bermuda in 1910, followed by South Africa in 1912. In that year, Lance-Corporal Gale, serving with A Company, is recorded in the regimental magazine The Wasp as a contributor to the 2nd Battalion benevolent fund.

When war was declared with Germany in August 1914 the 2nd Battalion was stationed at Robert's Heights, Pretoria. It was mobilised on the 10th August and Gale and the rest of the battalion set sail for England aboard HMT Kenilworth on the 27th of that month. After a brief stop at the island of St Helena, the battalion arrived at Southampton on the 19th September where it was assigned to the 21st Infantry Brigade in the 7th Division. The battalion sailed on two ships, SS Cornishman and SS Winefredian, arriving at Zeebrugge on the 6th October.

John Gale's medal index card shows that he landed overseas as a lance-sergeant and records held at Bedfordshire County Record Office note that he was overseas until the 2nd November 1914 when, according to his own autograph entry in Nurse Oliver's album, he was wounded. Records at the Bedfordshire archives note that his wound was a GSW (gunshot wound) to the chest. It seems likely that he was wounded on the 31st October, this from the 2nd Battalion War Diary (transcribed and augmented by Steve Fuller):

31 Oct 1914
Near Inverness Copse. Early in the morning about 2.30 A.M. orders were received to occupy a small fir wood about 250 yards in front of our line which was then held by L.North Lancs.R. Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] & 2 platoons of C Company were ordered to hold this position. This wood had been subjected to heavy shell fire from two sides during the previous day. Shell fire started as soon as it was light. It soon became evident that the enemy were advancing in force on the left of the wood held by Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] & also on the right. The Adjutant went to report the situation to Brigade H.Q.& almost immediately on his return to Battalion H.Q. 2 orderlies arrived with an order from the Brigadier to retire fighting towards MENIN-YPRES Road. Part of the Battalion moved back in compliance of this order. An order was sent to Captain Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] to retire from the fir wood upon the Battalion. Part of the Battalion remained in the trenches till late in the afternoon about 4.30 p.m. when they were brought back & established a line which they held till relieved on Nov.5/6. The losses were very severe on this day. The C.O. Major J.M.Traill [John Murray TRAILL] & 2nd in Command Major R.P.Stares [Robert Percy STARES] remained in the trenches & were shot at short range. Lieut.Paterson [John Agar PATERSON] was killed in the fir wood. Lieut.Gott [Gilbert Ewart GOTT] was wounded in the Fir wood. Captain A.B.Lemon [Arthur Buche LEMON] was twice wounded in the fir wood & captured. Captain C.S.Garnet Botfield [Charles Sidney GARNETT-BOTFIELD] was severely wounded. 2/Lieut.W.Dixon [William DIXON] wounded. Captain E.H.Lyddon [Ernest Hugh LYDDON] missing [Comment; later assumed KIA]. Lieut.Anderson [Wilfred Cruttenden ANDERSON] missing. The Battalion strength on night October 31st-1st November was 4 officers, 350-400 other ranks. 4 officers were Captain & Adjutant C.C.Foss [Charles Calverley FOSS, VC, DSO], 2/Lieut.B.H.Waddy [Bentley Herbert WADDY, MC], Lieut.S.D.Mills [Stephen Douglas MILLS, MC], Transport Officer, Captain & Quarter Master H.Cressingham [Hugh CRESSINGHAM]. [Comment; also killed was Lieutenant Donald Godrid Campbell THOMSON] A short line was taken up and entrenched.

The wound was severe enough to keep John Gale in England for almost a year. He returned to The Western Front on the 19th October 1915 (having fortuitously missed the Battle of Loos) and rejoined the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment at Bourecq.

In December 1915 he 7th Division’s 21st Brigade was assigned to the 30th Division, its four battalions of regular soldiers being mixed in with the newly created (and inexperienced) Pals battalions. The Bedfordshire’s new brigade was the 89th and they shared it with Kitchener volunteers from the 17th, 19th and 20th King’s Liverpool Regiment.

The 2nd Bedfords played a supporting role on 1st July 1916, following the 17th and 20th King’s as they moved through cut barbed wire to take their objectives as planned. The other brigades had also enjoyed similar successes and by the end of the day the division had taken all of its objectives and could claim the distinction of having captured the first three field guns of the battle as well as Montauban, the first village to fall.

On 10th July, orders were received that the 2nd Bedfords would attack Trones Wood the following day. Having taken Bernafay Wood almost without a struggle, Trones Wood was proving a much tougher nut to crack. Initial attacks on 8th July by battalions from the 21st Brigade had successfully established a foothold on the south eastern edge of the wood, but subsequent attacks had either failed or been met by stubborn resistance in a see-saw series of engagements which saw portions of Trones Wood switch from German to English control and then back to German. By the time John Gale and The Bedfords moved up to play their part in the action, the wood was still largely in German hands.

Despite the intensity of artillery and machine gun fire concentrated in the area over the previous three days, Trones Wood was still thick with undergrowth that made it difficult to see more than four yards in front. Into this tangle, the Bedfords had advanced at 3:10am, getting to within 400 yards of the south eastern edge of the wood before being spotted by German machine gunners. Thirty five minutes later they had managed to reach the southern end but not without sustaining many casualties on the way in. Two decades later, in a letter published in The Great War I Was There, Private E G Robinson, also of A Company, wrote:

“The first thing that greeted me was a pair of legs, but no body, cut off as clean as with a knife. Farther in, the dead lay in heaps, you couldn’t move without stepping on them… The wood was very dense so we could not see far ahead. We struck off towards the edge of the wood and we came to a clearing where we could see a trench and it was lousy with Germans. At this point we lost touch with the officer and never found what happened to him so we returned to the main body and reported… The branches of trees were flying about as bad as shells and bullets. We were troubled quite a lot by snipers who were up in the trees at the far end of the wood. Captain Tyler said we had better try to drive them out, so he took our platoon forward with that idea. But Jerry had other ideas, and promptly let loose hell: we dived from one tree to another, and the bullets were cutting the leaves and bark round our ears… Eventually we got back to our funk holes with the remainder of the Company. There was no rest of any sort, what with bombing, sniping, machine guns, shells, wounded and dying screaming, the stink of dead bodies, it was Bedlam.”

The remainder of the day followed the now familiar pattern of attack and counter attack, the Bedfords, supported by two companies of the 17th King’s managing to hold on to the southern portion of Trones Wood until relieved on the morning of the 13th by a battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment. The operation cost the Bedfords 244 casualties including John Gale who had been hit before even getting as far as the wood. He gets a mention in the battalion war diary entry for the 11th July:

"Whilst the men were digging in, strong patrols worked the interior of the wood collecting stragglers and bombing the enemy in their Trenches and Dug-outs, and accounted for a great number. "A" & "B" Companies were leading Companies in the Advance at 3.10 a.m. and were particularly unfortunate in losing many N.C.Os on entering the wood, including the C.S.M. of "A" Company (C.S.M.GALE)."

Bedfordshire archives records note that John Gale received a shell wound to his right knee. He must have remained in hospitals overseas for a couple of weeks as records show that he returned to the UK on the 26th July.

Back in England, John Gale would presumably have been sent to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton before being sent to Beechlands in Newick, and his rendezvous with Nurse Oliver. He almost certainly would have met some of the men below, posing for Nurse Oliver's camera at Beechlands in 1916.

In the October quarter of 1916, John Gale married Emily Jane Warman at The St George's Hanover Square district. He spent the remainder of the war in England and, on the face of it at least, appears to have been untroubled by his wounds in his subsequent military career. He gets a number of mentions in The Wasp; playing football in 1922, winning the Spoon Shoot in July 1924 and a whist drive in 1924.

RQMS John Gale was discharged at Bedford on the 22nd October 1927 on the termination of his engagement. His conduct was recorded as exemplary and his address on discharge given as Kempston Baracks, Bedford. He was awarded a pension of 56d a day for life and had already been awarded the LSGC with gratuity in April 1924.

John Gale died on the 6th March 1943 aged 52. He is buried in Flitwick churchyard in Bedfordshire.

King's Shropshire Light Infantry 1895/96

Some while back I bought a group of medals that had belonged to 1093 Colour Sergeant Charles Smith of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Along with his 1882-dated Egypt Medal, Khedive's Star and Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was this rather fine photo of D Company Football team (no battalion given) taken after they had won the Company Challenge Shield for the season 1895-1896 (they'd been runners-up the previous year). The men in the photo are all named, Colour Sergeant Smith sitting cross-legged far right.

Here are the names, left to right, of the victorious team:

Back Row: L/Cpl C Crooke, L/Cpl T Corbett, Pte J Lewis, Cpl W Keight, Cpl J Gibbons (linesman)
Middle Row: Clr Sgt E Beale, Cpl F Woodland, Capt W C Cass, Sgt A Nicholls
Front Row: Pte J Pearson, Pte T Morton, Clr Sgt R Woodland, Pte F Harrison, Clr Sgt Charles Smith

I decided to see if I could find service records for any of these men. Charles Smith had nothing in WO 97 but a record does survive in WO 363 which shows that he enlisted with the 21st Brigade on the 7th January 1879 and was discharged on the 30th September 1908 having served a grand total of 29 years and 272 days. He died of a cerebral haemmorhage on the 13th April 1939 aged 78; the death certificate in the name of Frederick Charles Smith.

L/Cpl Charles Crooke
Nothing in WO 97, WO 364 or WO 363. Charles Jeffery C Crooke was born in 1877, his birth recorded in the June quarter of that year in Walsall, Staffordshire. He enlisted with the KSLI around the 5th September 1894, served with the regiment in South Africa during the Second South African War and was awarded the QSA with clasps for Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein and Johannesburg. He appears on the QSA medal roll as sergeant and was a colour sergeant by 1902.  He was the best man at the 1906 wedding of Sergeant Bugler Henry Crew, also of the KSLI and also a Boer War veteran. Charles Crooke served during the First World War, his medal index card indicating that he arrived overseas with the regiment as a quartermaster sergeant on the 21st December 1914.  He was commissioned second lieutenant on the 24th May 1918 and was mentioned in dispatches in July 1922.  The address on his MIC is given as Binswood Cottage, New Road, Meole Brace, Shropshire. Charles Crooke died in Cheshire in 1962 at the age of 85. My thanks to Robert Crew for contributing information - see comments.

L/Cpl Thomas Corbett
Nothing in WO 97 but there is a Thomas Corbett who joined the 3rd Militia Bn (WO 96) as a seventeen-year-old in 1889. WO 364 has the same man as 3327 Thomas Corbett who joined the regiment on the 24th October 1890 aged 18 years and eight months and was already serving with the 3rd Militia Battalion. He was a lance-corporal by July 1895 and would go on to serve during the Boer War earning the QSA with clasps for Cape Colony, Paardeburg and Driefontein. Returned to England on the 17th May 1900, he would serve a total of 12 years.

Pte J Lewis
Too many options to be certain. There is, in WO 97, a 3356 Pte John Lewis who was serving with the regiment, based at the regimental depot, when D Company won the Challenge Shield.  This man also served in South Africa during the Second South African War and was awarded the QSA with clasps for Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein and Johannesburg.  Remarks note he was posted to the Army Reserve.

Cpl Walter Keight
In WO 97 there is a 1607 Walter Keight who joined the regiment on the 11th June 1885, although this man was a sergeant by 1895/1896. Served in South Africa during the Second South African War and was awarded the QSA with clasps for Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein and Johannesburg.  Remarks note he was posted to the 3rd Battalion.

Cpl John Gibbons
Nothing in WO 97. WO 364 has 2207 John Gibbons who had joined the regiment on 8th March 1887 and who was a corporal by December 1895. He was discharged in March 1908, by then a sergeant and with 21 years' service under his belt.

Sgt Ernest Beale
Nothing in WO 97. The WW1 medal index cards have a 1603 Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant E Beale whose number indicates that he joined the KSLI in 1885. This man was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal with gratuity in 1944. There is a further card for 13032 RQMS Ernest Beale of the 6th KSLI who served overseas from the 24th July 1915 and who was discharged to commission with the Labour Corps on the 25th August 1915.  He was subsequently captain and qaurtermaster sergeant with the 25th Labour Group.  The address on his MIC gives 14 College Hills, Shrewsbury.  Possibly the same Ernest Beale who died in Rowley Regis, Staffordshire in 1957 at the age of 89.

Cpl Frederick George Woodland
WO 97 has 3280 Frederick George Woodland, born in Colchester Barracks in approximately June 1872, joined the KSLI at Shrewsbury on 2nd August 1890, discharged in July 1911 having served 21 years. He was certainly in England when D Company won its shield but he was a sergeant by September 1894. He died in 1951 aged 78. The 1881 census shows him as an eight-year-old living at Copthorn Barracks Shrewsbury, his father a 41 year-old staff-sergeant with the Shropshire Militia.

Ken Woodland, writing to me in December 2015, noted: "Frederick George Woodland was the son of my great grandfather, Richard Woodland, born 1841. He was a colour sergeant in the KSLI. My grandfather [his brother] was George Charles Woodland who also fought with the KSLI in World War 1."

Captain Claude William Cally Cass
Claude Cass was born in London on the 25th October 1861 and joined the KSLI on the 29th July 1882. Papers in WO 76 note service in the UK as well as in Malta, Suakin, Lower Egypt and Hong Kong. A note on his file indicates that he was posted to the 1st Battalion on the 9th March 1898. At the time the document was completed, Captain Cass was unmarried.

Sgt A Nicholls
Nothing in WO 97.

Pte J Pearson
Nothing in WO 97. A 2724 Private J Pearson served in South African during the Second South African War and was awarded the QSA qith clasps for Cape Colony and Paardeberg.  He was returned to England on the 7th July 1900.  His QSA is in private hands.

Pte Thomas Morton
WO 97 has 5022 Pte Thomas Morton who joined the regiment in February 1896 aged 18 years and six months. The T Morton in the photograph looks young enough to be this man. Thomas would go on to serve 15 years and 41 days with the regiment before being discharged in March 1911. His brother, Titus Morton, was a regular with the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots.

Clr Sgt Alton Richard Woodland
I had not found any record of service in WO 97 although I surmised that this man was possibly related to Frederick Woodland. I could not find, however, an R Woodland listed in the Woodland household on census returns (apart from father Richard who would have been too old to be playing football in the mid 1890s).

Writing to me in December 2015, Ken Woodland again noted, "[This man] is probably Alton Richard Woodland who became a quarter master sergeant and then eventually an officer with, I think, the rank of colonel.  He became a freemason, Grand Lodge. He also sat on the FA council and became very influential in local politics."

As a result of this tip-off I found a record for Alton Woodland in WO 76 which shows that he had attested, aged 21 years and 6 months, on the 30th March 1889 and served in the ranks until 21st November 1903 when he was commissioned. He had married Rose Peel at Nottingham in October 1891 and the couple had three children: Richard William Woodland (born 1894), Lillie Florence Grace Woodland (born 1895) and Ada Louise Woodland (born 1898). The WO 76 record does not state Alton Woodland's rank, and neither is the document dated. It does however note that he served in South Africa between November 1899 and October 1901.

There is also a record for this man in AIR 79 which shows that he served in the RAF from September 1918 until May 1920 when he was struck off strength. Hi rank is given in a number of places as "Major and Quartermaster KSLI" and latterly, "Major / Acting Lieutenant-Colonel". The following notice appeared in the London Gazette dated 11th June 1920:

Alton Richard Woodland was indeed a freemason and had been initiated in 1898. He was a member of Pengwerne Lodge, Shrewsbury; Castlemartin Lodge, Pembroke; Portsmouth Lodge, Portsmouth; and Wrekin Lodge. His death was recorded at Chelsea in the third quarter of 1933. He was 66-years-old.

Pte F Harrison
Too many options to be certain.

If anyone can shed any more light on any of these men, please let me know.

Collecting habits

When it comes to collecting medals, general advice seems to be, collect with a theme in mind. That theme may be regiments, campaigns, one single medal (or combination of medals), medals named to a particualr surname, medals awarded to men of a particular location, and so on and so on. The problem is, after a relatively recent five years of sporadic collecting, I have yet to settle on a definitive theme. Nevertheless, I have set my own 'rules' and here they are.

1. I buy for pleasure and as an investment for my children.
2. I believe that all British medals, particularly the Victorian medals, are objects of beauty.
3. I like medal singles and groups with an India connection.
4. I like the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal - Army, Navy and Volunteer, it doesn't matter, although I like the Army LSGC in particular
5. I prefer to buy singles or groups that have been unresearched
6. Once purchased as part of my collection, I would not re-sell a medal or group.
7. I have a desire to own at least one medal from all of the major campaigns from the Military General Service Medal campaigns onwards
8. I have a secondary desire to own at least one medal from each of the old 69 line regiments.
9. I abhor the practive of erasing names on medals and would never knowingly buy an erased or re-named medal.
10. I would not buy a broken group unless it was a sought-after family medal or part group of family medals
11. I do not like medal copies and would never, under any circumstance, buy one to complete a group.
12. I am always looking for alternative income streams to feed my habit!

Pictured above, the medal group for George Arthur James Welch, an ex Yorkshire Regiment regular who latterly served as a sub-conductor with the Indian Army Ordnance Corps. His group includes the Delhi Durbar Medal for 1911 and an Army LSGC (so he ticks two of my boxes there). An added bonus was that I found a sheaf of service papers in the India Office Collection at the British Library; a source that is often overlooked (third box ticked).

Army Long Service & Good Conduct Medal

Instituted:
1830

Qualification:
The Army Long Service & Good Conduct (LSGC) medal was originally awarded to infantry NCOs and men who had completed 21 years' good conduct, or cavalry NCOs and men who had completed 24 years' good conduct. In 1870 the qualifying period was reduced to 18 years for both the cavalry and the infantry.

Description:
Silver, 36mm diameter. The metal and the size appear to be the only characteristics of the medal that remained unchanged over the years. The following information comes from a variety of sources.

1830-1831
King William IV - type 1 (small ring)
The medal was designed by by Benedetto Pistrucci (1783-1855). His most famous design was that of St George slaying the dragon, an image that first appeared on British gold sovereigns and crow in 1817 and is still in use today. The obverse depicts the royal coat of arms with a small shield of the House of Hanover, surrounded by a trophy of arms. The reverse carries the legend, FOR / LONG SERVICE / AND / GOOD CONDUCT. (See image below, courtesy of Dixons Medals)


1831-1837
King William IV - type 2 (large ring)
Same as above but with a large ring.

1837-1855
Queen Victoria - type 1 (Hannoverian emblem dropped)
On the accession of the new queen, the Hannoverian emblem was dropped and replaced by Queen Victoria's Royal coat of arms (see image at the top of this post), although new dies were not introduced until 1839. The legend on the reverse remained the same.

1855-1874
Queen Victoria - type 2 - (swivelling scroll suspension)
A swivelling scroll suspension was introduced in 1855. (See image below, courtesy of Dixons Medals).


1874-1901
Queen Victoria - type 3 (smaller lettering)
Swivelling scroll suspension and smaller lettering on the reverse replacing the larger lettering. (See image below, courtesy of Dixons Medals).

1901-1910
King Edward VII

Since 1901, Queen Victoria's coat of arms has been replaced with the head or bust of the reigning monarch. The obverse of the King Edward VII version portrays the bust of the King (facing left) in field marshal's uniform with the legend EDWARDUS VII REX IMPERATOR. The reverse carries the legend, FOR / LONG SERVICE / AND / GOOD CONDUCT.

1911-1920
King George V - type 1

The obverse depicts the bust of King George V (facing left) with the legend GEORGIUS BRITT: OMN: REX: ET: IND: IMP: (George V, omnipotent King of Great Britain and Emperor of India). The reverse carries the legend, FOR / LONG SERVICE / AND / GOOD CONDUCT.

1920-1930
King George V - type 2
In 1920 the swivelling scroll suspender was replaced by a fixed suspender.

In 1930 the name of the medal was changed to the Long Service and Good Conduct Military Medal.

Ribbon:
Originally dark crimson, this was amended to dark crimson with white edges for awards made from 1917 onwards.

Naming:
A combination of engraved and impressed.

Clasps:
No clasps were awarded for this medal.

Other
A Long Service medal was also issued to members of the Volunteer Force. This was a different design and had a green ribbon.

Image:
I've borrowed the photograph on this page from the Frontier Medals website. It shows a type 2 Army LSGC medal.