Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal

• Name — Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal • Presenter — the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India • Country — * Illustration — x14px United Kingdom • Type — Military long service medal • Eligibility — Permanent Force Other Ranks of the Dominions and Colonies • Awarded For — 18 years service and good conduct • Status — Discontinued in 1930 • Established — 1910 • Lastawarded — 1930 • Precedence Label — Order of Wear • Higher — Accumulated Campaign Service Medal • Same — Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

The United Kingdom's Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King William IV in 1830. The original medal had the Royal Coat of Arms with the badge of Hanover on the obverse, while on the Queen Victoria version, introduced upon her succession to the throne in 1837, the Hanover emblem was replaced by a Trophy of Arms which incorporated a central shield bearing the Royal Coat of Arms. Upon the succession of King Edward VII to the throne in 1901, his effigy was placed on the medal's obverse. The medal's ribbon was plain crimson from 1830 until 1917, when white bands were added to the edges. On 31 May 1895, Queen Victoria authorised Colonial governments to adopt, amongst others, the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and to award it to other ranks of their local permanent military forces. Territories which took advantage of the authorisation include Canada, Cape of Good Hope, India, Natal, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. Their respective versions of the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal were identical to the Queen Victoria version of the United Kingdom's medal, but with the names of the respective territories inscribed in a curved line above the inscription "FOR LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT" on the reverse. All these territorial medals had ribbons in the same crimson colour as that of the British medal, but with a 4 millimetres wide band in the centre in a colour to represent each territory. Second versions of most of these medals, with the effigy of King Edward VII on the obverse, were awarded from 1902. The reverse of these medals remained the same for all but the five Australian territories. Since the Commonwealth of Australia had been formed on 1 January 1901, the five Queen Victoria versions of the medal for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria were replaced by a single King Edward VII version with the inscription "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA" in a curved line on the reverse.

The Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal was established by King Edward VII in 1910 and superseded the several territorial versions of the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal which were being awarded by the various territories of the British Empire. Like the United Kingdom's Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, the Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal was instituted as an Army award, since members of the Royal Navy were eligible for the award of the Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal instead. From 1 February 1920, when the South African Air Force was established as the first independent Air Force outside the United Kingdom, eligibility for award was extended to members of the Air Forces of the Empire as they were being established as independent Air Forces, separate from the respective Armies.

In the order of wear prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, the Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal ranks on par with the United Kingdom's Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and its territorial versions, and the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military). They all take precedence after the Accumulated Campaign Service Medal and before the Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1830).

With effect from 6 April 1952, when a new South African set of decorations and medals was instituted to replace the British awards used to date, the older British decorations and medals which were applicable to South Africa continued to be worn in the same order of precedence but, with the exception of the Victoria Cross, took precedence after all South African orders, decorations and medals awarded to South Africans on or after that date. Of the official British medals which were applicable to South Africans, the Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal takes precedence as shown. • Illustration — Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Natal) • Illustration — Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal • Illustration — Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (South Africa) • Preceded by the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Natal). • Succeeded by the Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (South Africa).

In Canada, 839 medals were awarded to members of the Canadian Army, and one to a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal and the United Kingdom's Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal were both superseded on 23 September 1930, when a new Royal Warrant was promulgated by King George V to establish a single Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military) for the British Army and all regular and permanent military forces of the British Empire. This medal once again had various territorial versions, but this time in the form of subsidiary titles inscribed on a bar attached to the suspender of the medal, rather than on the medal reverse. One exception was the South African version, which had a bilingual inscription on the medal reverse.

Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal is recorded from 1910.