Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies

Awarding of this medal was discontinued in stages when it was superseded in most territories by the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal in 1899 and in the remainder by the Efficiency Medal in 1930.

• Name — Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies • Presenter — the Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India • Country — United Kingdom • Type — Military long service medal • Eligibility — Other ranks and Officers who have served in the ranks of the Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire • Awarded For — Twenty years service Eighteen years service in India • Status — Discontinued in 1930 • Established — 1896 • Lastawarded — 1930 • Precedence Label — Order of Wear • Higher — Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies • Lower — Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration • Related — Volunteer Long Service Medal • Image2 — * Illustration — x29px • Caption2 — Ribbon bar

The Volunteer Long Service Medal was instituted in 1894 as an award for long service by other ranks in the part-time Volunteer Force of the United Kingdom, as well as to officers who had served in the ranks but who had not qualified for the award of the Volunteer Officers' Decoration. The qualifying period of service was twenty years.

On 13 June 1896, the grant of the Volunteer Long Service Medal was extended by Queen Victoria to members of Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire, defined as being India, the Dominion of Canada, the Crown Colonies and the British Protectorates. A separate new medal was instituted, the Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies. Institution of this medal was not, as usual, by Royal Warrant, but in terms of a special Army Order. This medal was similar in design to the Volunteer Long Service Medal, but bore different inscriptions on the obverse of each monarch's version.

In the order of wear prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, the Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies takes precedence after the Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies and before the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration. • Illustration — Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies • Illustration — Volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies • Illustration — Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration • Preceded by the Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies (VD). • Succeeded by the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration (VD).

Between 1899 and 1902, the medal was superseded by the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal in the Dominion, the Crown Colonies, the British Protectorates and most Crown Dependencies. It continued to be awarded to the Isle of Man Volunteers until the 7th (Isle of Man) Volunteer Battalion was disbanded on 3 March 1920, and in Bermuda and India until 1930, when it was finally superseded by the Efficiency Medal.

The canonical record carries the following identifying particulars. Classified as a military awards and decorations of Canada. It is also recorded that volunteer Long Service Medal for India and the Colonies is associated with Australia.