The Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve, commonly known as the Reserve Decoration (RD) was a medal awarded to officers with at least fifteen years service in the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

(RNR) of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The medal was instituted in 1908.

Design and eligibility

The medal consists of the cypher of the reigning monarch in

silver gilt Silver-gilt or gilded/gilt silver, sometimes known in American English by the French term vermeil, is silver (either pure or sterling) which has been gilded with gold. Most large objects made in goldsmithing that appear to be gold are actually ...

surrounded by a oval

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

cable tied with a

reef knot The reef knot, or square knot, is an ancient and simple binding knot used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is sometimes also referred to as a Hercules knot. The knot is formed by tying a left-handed overhand knot between two ends, ...

at the base and surmounted by a gilt crown. The reverse is plain, with later issues often engraved with the year of award. The ribbon, suspended from a ring, was dark green until October 1941, and green edged white thereafter. To qualify, fifteen years' service was required (not counting service as a midshipman), with wartime service counting double. Clasps to the Reserve Decoration were awarded to recognise further periods of 15 years' service after the first award. When just the ribbon of the Decoration was worn, each clasp was indicated by a silver 'rosette' on the ribbon. The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Decoration was of the same design as the Reserve Decoration but was distinguished, from 1919, by a different ribbon. In 1966 the Royal Naval Reserve (drawn from the Merchant Navy) and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (civilian volunteers) were merged. Thereafter awards of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Decoration were discontinued, with all reserve Royal Naval officers eligible for the Reserve Decoration. The Reserve Decoration and the

Royal Naval Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal The Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was the Long Service Medal of the reserve forces of the Royal Navy. The medal was presented for 15 or 12 years of service by Petty Officers and ratings of the Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Naval Volunt ...

for RNR ratings were both replaced by a combined-services

Volunteer Reserves Service Medal The Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VRSM) is a medal which may be awarded to members of the Volunteer Reserves of all branches of the British Armed Forces - the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Marines Reserve, the Army Reserve and the Royal Auxil ...

on 1 April 1999.

References

External links

Medals and service record of John Wilson
{{Efficiency and long service decorations and medals Decorations of the Royal Navy Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth