Instituted in 1911 by the Board of trade (originally the Lords of Trade and Plantations or Lords of Trade) the Coastguard Auxiliary Service Long Service Medal is a long service medal awarded by the United Kingdom. The medal was initially known as the Board of Trade Rocket Apparatus Long Service Medal and first appearing in the order of wear in 1922.

The medal was awarded for twenty years of full or part-time service, members of Her Majesty's Coastguard, Coastguard Rescue Service, and Isle of Man Coastguard and auxiliary coastguards are eligible for the medal. The medal was first awarded for service with a rocket life-saving apparatus company or brigade, upon the recommendation of the Board of Trade, the Minister of Shipping, Minister of War Transport, or Minister of Transport. In 1954, the name of the medal changed to the Coast Life Saving Corps Long Service Medal. The name of the medal changed again in 1997 to the Coastguard Auxiliary Long Service Medal. Finally, in 2012 the Royal Warrant was amended and the medal was renamed H.M. Coastguard Long Service And Good Conduct Medal as eligibility was extended to include 'regular' coastguard officers.

Description:

Materials: The majority of the British medals and clasps are made of solid silver, though some were issue in bronze versions, mainly to Indian non-combatants. The majority of the British campaign awards are circular, usually 36mm in diameter.

Ribbons: Medals are worn suspended from their own specific ribbons. These were first made of silk but cotton was increasingly used as the nineteenth century developed. Their own colours often have a symbolic significance: the equal stripes of the ‘1939 to 1945 Star,’ for example, are dark blue to represent the service of the Royal and Merchant Navies, red, to represent that of the Armies and light blue to represent that of Air Forces.

Ribbon width can vary slightly though it is generally 32mm wide.

Ribbon – Originally pale blue with broad scarlet edges, in 2013 changed to scarlet with one broad central pale blue stripe and two narrow pale blue stripes.

1911—2011 ribbon

2012—present ribbon

Suspender - Ornate

Type – Long service medal

Eligibility – Members of Her Majesty's Coastguard, Coastguard Rescue Service, and Isle of Man Coastguard and auxiliary coastguards.

Awarded for – 20 years full or part-time service

Established – 1911

Naming - On the reverse is the inscription presented to, with a space for engraving the recipient's name, and for long service and good conduct with H. M. Coastguard

Description – Silver medal 36mm diameter. The medal obverse shows the effigy of the reigning monarch surrounded by the Royal Title with the words below ‘Instituted 1911’. There are four types of reverse that exists. The first refers to the Board of Trade, though when the department handed over responsibility to the Ministry of Transport in 1942 the wording was amended to ‘ROCKET APPARATUS VOLUNTEER MEDAL’ around the medal circumference. In 1953 the inscription was changed to ‘COAST LIFE SAVING CORPS’ and then in 1968 to ‘COASTGUARD AUXILIARY SERVICE’

This guide will help you through all the parts and descriptions of military medals

Sources:

< gov.uk/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility>

Some of the material on this page was also partially derived from

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ H.M._Coastguard_Long_Service_and_Good_Conduct_Medal>

Which are released under the terms of

Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-s/3.0/.