The Volunteer Officers' Decoration, post-nominal letters VD, was instituted in 1892 as an award for long and meritorious service by officers of the United Kingdom's

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a Social movement, popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increa ...

. Award of the decoration was discontinued in the United Kingdom when it was superseded by the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer O ...

in 1908, but it continued to be awarded in some

Crown Dependencies The Crown Dependencies are three dependent territory, offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the The Crown, British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, both lo ...

until 1930.North East Medals – The Volunteer Officers' Decoration
(Accessed 28 June 2015) The grant of the decoration was extended in 1894 by the institution of a separate new decoration, the

Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies The Volunteer Officers' Decoration was instituted in 1892 as an award for long and meritorious service by officers of the United Kingdom's Volunteer Force. In 1894, the grant of the decoration was extended to commissioned officers of Volunteer ...

, that could be awarded to commissioned officers of all Volunteer Forces throughout the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

and India.

Institution

The Volunteer Officers' Decoration,

post-nominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...

VD and colloquially known as the Volunteer Decoration, was instituted by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

's Royal Warrant on 25 July 1892. The decoration could be awarded to efficient and thoroughly capable officers of proven capacity for long and meritorious service in the part-time Volunteer Force of the United Kingdom.

Award criteria

The qualifying period of service was twenty years. Half of any previous service in the Regular Army also counted towards qualification. The award did not confer any individual precedence, but entitled the recipient to use the post-nominal letters VD. Recipients had to have been recommended for the award by the Commanding Officer of their Corps, and duly certified by the District Military Authorities in which the Corps was located as having been efficient and thoroughly capable officers, in every way deserving of such a decoration. In order to preserve the purity of the decoration, the name of any person on whom it had been conferred who was subsequently convicted of any act derogatory to his honour as an officer and gentleman, was immediately erased from the registry of individuals upon whom the decoration had been conferred. The Volunteer Officers' Decoration could also be conferred upon any of the Princes of the Royal Family of Great Britain and Ireland.

Colonial version

On 24 May 1894 the grant of the decoration was extended by Royal Warrant to commissioned officers of Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire, defined as being

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, the

Dominion of Canada While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec C ...

, the Crown Colonies and the

. A separate new decoration was instituted, the

. This decoration was similar in design to the Volunteer Officers' Decoration, but bore the Royal Cypher "VRI" (Victoria Regina Imperatrix) instead of "VR" (Victoria Regina). Even so, some

awarded the Volunteer Officers' Decoration instead of the Colonial version, until the

Efficiency Decoration The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the British Colonial Auxiliary Forces, Auxiliary Military Forces, ...

was instituted in September 1930.

Order of wear

In the order of wear prescribed by the British

Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, or simply the Central Chancery, is an office of the Lord Chamberlain's department within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the administration of orde ...

, the Volunteer Officers' Decoration takes precedence after the Army Emergency Reserve Decoration and before the Volunteer Long Service Medal.

Description

The decoration is an oval skeletal design and was struck in silver, with parts of the obverse in silver-gilt. It is high and wide with a ring suspender formed of silver wire. ;Obverse The obverse is an oak leaf wreath in silver, tied with gold, with the Royal Cypher below the Royal Crown, both in gold, in the centre. ;Reverse The reverse is plain with the hallmarks impressed at the bottom. The decoration was awarded unnamed, but was frequently unofficially engraved in various styles. ;Ribbon The ribbon is dark green and in width and is suspended from a silver bar-brooch decorated with an oak leaf pattern.

Versions

Three versions of the decoration were struck. The original version of 1892 had the Royal Cypher "VR" of Queen Victoria below the Royal Crown in the centre. The King Edward VII version, with his Royal Cypher "ER VII", was introduced after his succession to the throne in 1901 and ceased to be awarded to officers of the United Kingdom's Volunteer Force when it was superseded by the

in 1908. It appears to have continued to be awarded in some Crown Dependencies until 1910. The King George V version, with his Royal Cypher "GVR", was introduced after his succession to the throne in 1910. This version appears to have only been awarded in some Crown Dependencies, instead of the Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies.

Discontinuation

The "Home" (ie., ''British Isles'') Volunteer Force was merged with the

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...

in 1908 to become the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...

, which, unlike its predecessors, was not a voluntary force (ie., its other ranks engaged for a term of service of four years and could not resign). At the same time, award of the Volunteer Officers' Decoration was discontinued in the United Kingdom and superseded by the new

.''The London Gazette'' no. 28181, Tuesday, September 29, 1908
(Accessed on 25 July 2015)The National Archives - War Office: Service Medal and Award Rolls, Volunteer Officers' Decoration and King George V's Coronation Medal
(Accessed 28 June 2015) The Volunteer Officers' Decoration continued to be awarded in some

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

and

(such as to officers of the

Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the British Army, Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the ''Bermuda Rifles'' in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965 ...

in the

Imperial fortress Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Lord Salisbury described Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Halifax as Imperial fortresses at the 1887 Colonial Conference, though by that point they had been so designated for decades. Later histor ...

colony of

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, with awards for this unit continuing even after its re-organisation on Territorial Force lines in 1921) until the

was instituted in September 1930. The last colony or Crown dependency in which the decoration was awarded was

in 1930.

References

{{Efficiency and long service decorations and medals Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth Awards established in 1892