Instituted in June 1908, by Army Order No: 126 the Special Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was a long service medal awarded by the United Kingdom.

In 1908 the reserve forces of Great Britain were reorganised and most of the Militia was incorporated into the new Territorial Force, which went on to become the Territorial Army. Some units, largely based in Ireland, however were left to form a Special Reserve, and this too was granted its own Long Service award, the Special Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

The medal was awarded to non-commissioned officers and other ranks for fifteen years of efficient and irreproachable service in the Special Reserve and attending fifteen annual trainings. Qualifying service for the medal could come from service in the Militia, Imperial Yeomanry, Volunteer Force, or Territorial Force so long as at least five years was in the Militia or Special Reserve.

The medal was superseded by the Efficiency Medal in 1930.

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 – Dark Blue with a central light blue stripe

Special Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal ribbon

Suspender – Ring

Type – Long service and good conduct medal

Eligibility – Efficient and irreproachable service in the Special Reserve

Awarded for – Awarded for 15 years’ service and attending 15 annual camps.

Established – 1908

Total awarded – 1,078+ medals awarded between 1908 and 1953

Description – Silver oval medal, height: 38mm; Max width: 31mm. The medal obverse depicts the bust of the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. The reverse bears the inscription ‘SPECIAL RESERVE’ arched above ‘FOR LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT’ on four lines.

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/ Special_Reserve_Long_Service_and_Good_Conduct_Medal >

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