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Volunteer Officers' Decoration

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61-522: 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 . Award of the decoration was discontinued in the United Kingdom when it was superseded by the Territorial Decoration in 1908, but it continued to be awarded in some Crown Dependencies until 1930. The grant of

122-542: A royal commission chaired by Viscount Eversley was appointed "to inquire into the condition of the volunteer force in Great Britain and into the probability of its continuance at its existing strength". According to the report, as of 1 April 1862, the Volunteer Force had a strength of 162,681 consisting of: Their report made a number of recommendations and observations on funding and training: To carry into effect

183-474: A County". On acceptance, the corps would be deemed lawfully formed. Existing corps were to continue under the new Act, although the power was given to the Crown to disband any corps. The constitution of a permanent staff consisting of an adjutant and serjeant instructors was permitted for each corps. The grouping of two or more corps into administrative regiments was recognised, and a permanent staff could be provided for

244-585: A major role in suppressing the rebellion of 1798, was completely disbanded in 1838. For the next thirty years, the Yeomanry Force was retained as a second line of support for the regular cavalry within Britain. Recruiting difficulties led to serious consideration being given to the disbandment of the entire force in 1870, but instead measures were taken the following year to improve its effectiveness. These included requirements that individual yeomanry troopers attend

305-463: A minimum number of drills per year in return for a "permanent duty" allowance, and that units be maintained at a specific strength. Yeomanry officers and permanent drill instructors were required to undergo training at a newly established School of Instruction and the Secretary of State for War took over responsibility for the force, from individual Lords Lieutenant of counties. While these reforms improved

366-537: A ring suspender formed of silver wire. 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. The reverse is plain with the hallmarks impressed at the bottom. The decoration was awarded unnamed, but was frequently unofficially engraved in various styles. The ribbon is dark green and 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (38 millimetres) in width and

427-495: A sub-unit of a larger unit: In 1907 the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry was established as an all female volunteer organisation to provide a link between field hospitals and the front line, with their primary role being to rescue the wounded, rather than provide nursing care. Because the organisation as initially formed was mounted it adopted the yeomanry name. The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry is an independent charity that

488-509: A wider European conflict. On 12 May 1859, the Secretary of State for War , Jonathan Peel issued a circular letter to lieutenants of counties in England, Wales and Scotland, authorising the formation of volunteer rifle corps (VRC, a.k.a. corps of rifle volunteers and rifle volunteer corps), and of artillery corps in defended coastal towns. Volunteer corps were to be raised under the provisions of

549-463: Is composed of Arms to which their use is not appropriate". The large number of small independent corps proved difficult to administer, and, by 1861, most had been formed into battalion-sized units, either by "consolidation": increasing an existing corps to battalion size (usually in large urban areas), or by forming administrative battalions or brigades by the grouping of smaller corps (in rural areas). An official book of drill and rifle instructions for

610-437: Is suspended from a silver bar-brooch decorated with an oak leaf pattern. 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

671-651: The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda , with awards for this unit continuing even after its re-organisation on Territorial Force lines in 1921) until the Efficiency Decoration was instituted in September 1930. The last colony or Crown dependency in which the decoration was awarded was Bermuda in 1930. Volunteer Force (Great Britain) The Volunteer Force

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732-575: The British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. In the 1790s, following the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte , the perceived threat of invasion of the Kingdom of Great Britain was high. To improve the country's defences, Volunteer regiments were raised in many counties from yeomen . While

793-752: The Crimean War , it was painfully clear to the War Office that, with half of the British Army dispositioned around the Empire on garrison duty, it had insufficient forces available to quickly compose and despatch an effective expeditionary force to a new area of conflict, unless it was to reduce the British Isles' own defences. During the Crimean War , the War Office had been forced to send militia and yeomanry to make up

854-932: The Crimean War , the British military (i.e., land forces ) was made up of multiple separate forces, with a basic division into the Regular Forces (including the British Army , composed primarily of cavalry and infantry, and the Ordnance Military Corps of the Board of Ordnance , made up of the Royal Artillery , Royal Engineers , and the Royal Sappers and Miners though not including the originally civilian Commissariat Department , stores and supply departments, all of which, with barracks and other departments, were absorbed into

915-541: The Isle of Man , and consequently the 7th (Isle of Man) Volunteer Battalion of The King's (Liverpool Regiment) continued to serve as the only remaining unit of the Volunteer Force until disbandment in 1922. (1868–1922) According to the Territorial Year Book 1909 , the Volunteer Force had the following strength over its existence: Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in

976-467: The Napoleonic Wars compared with the linear tactics of the standing army. Many units initially favoured green and grey (colours until then used by British and German rifle units in the army) rifleman uniforms as opposed to the red coats of the infantry and engineers of the army and militia. In turn, the army was glad not to have amateur volunteers wear the scarlet of the regulars . The provisions of

1037-696: The Reserve Forces , most of these had been allowed to lapse after the Napoleonic Wars, although the Yeomanry was maintained to potentially support the civil authorities against civil unrest, as at the 1819 Peterloo massacre , the Militia remained as a paper tiger , and rifle clubs were encouraged as the backbone against which the Volunteer force might be re-raised. The Militia and Volunteer Force were both re-organised in

1098-638: The Second Boer War , companies of Imperial Yeomanry were formed to serve overseas from volunteers from the Yeomanry. In 1901, all yeomanry regiments were redesignated as "Imperial Yeomanry", and reorganised. In 1908, the Imperial Yeomanry was merged with the Volunteer Force to form the Territorial Force , of which it became the cavalry arm. The "Imperial" title was dropped at the same time. On

1159-499: The Second Boer War , when the prolonged campaign necessitated an increase in the size of British forces in South Africa. Volunteer Battalions formed Volunteer Active Service Companies that joined the regular battalions of their county regiments. Following the war, the battle honour "South Africa 1900–02" was awarded to the volunteer units that provided detachments for the campaign. By 1907, when its civilian administration teetered on

1220-531: The Volunteer Act 1804 ( 44 Geo. 3 . c. 54), which had been used to form local defence forces during the Napoleonic Wars . Alfred Tennyson captured the spirit of the time by publishing his poem Riflemen Form in The Times on 9 May 1859. As a basis for the units, many communities had rifle clubs for the enjoyment of the sport of shooting. Originally corps were to consist of approximately 100 all ranks under

1281-617: The bombs used in the attack manufactured in Birmingham . The perceived threat of invasion by the much larger French Army was such that, even without sending a third of the army to another Crimea, Britain's military defences had already been stretched invitingly thin. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire (the Second Italian War of Independence ), and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in

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1342-520: The 1850s. These forces were originally local-service, embodied during wartime or emergency, and placed under the control of Lords-Lieutenant of counties, and, in British colonies , under the colonial governors . After the British Army's Regular Reserve was created in 1859, by Secretary of State for War Sidney Herbert , and re-organised under the Reserve Force Act 1867 ( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 110),

1403-527: The 1st Devonshire Rifle Volunteers (and were often referred to as the 1st Rifle Volunteer Corps), and the Victoria Rifles (descended from the Duke of Cumberland's Sharpshooters , formed in 1803) who became the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. An order of precedence was established for ninety-two other counties, depending upon the date of establishment of the first corps in the county. The most senior artillery corps

1464-740: The British Army when the Board of Ordnance was abolished in 1855). and the Reserve Forces . After the 1855 consolidation of the Regular Forces (ignoring minor forces such as the Yeomen Warders and the Yeomen of the Guard ) into the Regular Force (i.e., the British Army ), there still remained a number of British military (not to be confused with naval ) forces that were not part of the British Army; specifically

1525-627: The Corps of Rifle Volunteers and volunteer regulations were published in 1859 and 1861 respectively. From 1860 Cadet Corps were also formed, consisting of school-age boys, which were the forerunners of the Army Cadet Force and Combined Cadet Force . Like the adult volunteers, the boys were supplied with arms by the War Office, for which they had to pay a fee, which reduced the longer they remained members. Cadet Corps were usually associated with private schools. They paraded regularly in public. In 1862,

1586-505: 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

1647-505: The Force. The lord-lieutenant of a county, or the commanding officer of a corps or administrative regiment was empowered to appoint a court of inquiry into any corps, officer, non-commissioned officer or volunteer. Part II of the Act dealt with "Actual Military Service". The terms for calling out of the force were altered: this would now happen in "the case of actual or apprehended invasion of any part of

1708-526: The Regular Army. This culminated in the Childers Reforms of 1881 which nominated rifle volunteer corps as volunteer battalions of the new "county" infantry regiments, which also consisted of regular and militia battalions within a defined regimental district. Over the next few years many of the rifle volunteer corps adopted the "volunteer battalion" designation and the uniform of their parent regiment. This

1769-688: The Reserve forces, to avoid confusion, were generally known as the Auxiliary Forces or Local Forces . The Regulation of the Forces Act 1871 removed the Lord-Lieutenant as head of the county reserve forces and they were increasingly integrated with the British Army. A large number of Volunteer Corps were formed during the French Revolutionary War but were stood down afterwards. Following

1830-579: The Special Reserve, which provided a body of trained men available for drafting to regular battalions as required during wartime). The total cost of the TF was to be met in future by central government. In addition to the introduction of terms of service for volunteers, most of the units lost their unique identities, becoming numbered territorial battalions of the local army regiment, albeit with distinctive badges or dress distinctions. The 1907 act did not extend to

1891-455: The United Kingdom (the occasion being first communicated to both Houses of Parliament if parliament is sitting, or declared in council and notified by proclamation if parliament is not sitting.)" As well as being entitled to pay and billets, relief was also to be given to the wives and families of volunteers. A bounty of one guinea was to be paid to volunteers on release from actual military service, such release being notified in order by writing by

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1952-489: The amalgamation of some pairs of yeomanry regiments. There was a major reduction in reserve forces in 1967 with the formation of the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve; all existing yeomanry regiments were reduced to squadron, company or battery sub-units. A number of further reorganisations have taken place since then. In the current Army Reserve , several remnants of former Yeomanry regiments are still serving, usually as

2013-567: The brink of insolvency, the Volunteer Force had become indispensable to British defence planning, as well as an enabler of the Regular Army's drawing its own forces away from home defence stations. Consequently, the government passed the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 , which merged the Volunteer Force with the Yeomanry to form the Territorial Force in 1908 (while the Militia was re-organised as

2074-425: The civil power over the previous decade. A number of independent troops were also dissolved. Following these reductions, the yeomanry establishment was fixed at 22 corps (regiments) receiving allowances and a further 16 serving without pay. During the 1830s, the number of yeomanry units fluctuated, reflecting the level of civil unrest in any particular region at any particular time. The Irish Yeomanry, which had played

2135-402: The command of a captain, with some localities having subdivisions of thirty men under a lieutenant. The purpose of the rifle corps was to harass the invading enemy's flanks, while artillery corps were to man coastal guns and forts. Although not mentioned in the circular letter, engineer corps were also formed, principally to place underwater mines for port defence. Stretcher-bearers attached to

2196-777: 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. 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 , the Dominion of Canada , the Crown Colonies and the Crown Dependencies . A separate new decoration

2257-811: The decoration was extended in 1894 by the institution of a separate new decoration, the Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies , that could be awarded to commissioned officers of all Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire and India. The Volunteer Officers' Decoration, post-nominal letters VD and colloquially known as the Volunteer Decoration, was instituted by Queen Victoria '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

2318-465: The eve of World War I in 1914, there were 55 Yeomanry regiments (with two more formed in August 1914), each of four squadrons instead of the three of the regular cavalry. Upon embodiment, these regiments were either brought together to form mounted brigades or allocated as divisional cavalry. For purposes of recruitment and administration, the Yeomanry were linked to specific counties or regions, identified in

2379-496: The first half of the nineteenth century, Yeomanry Regiments were used extensively in support of the civil authority to quell riots and civil disturbances, including the Peterloo Massacre ; as police forces were created and took over this role, the Yeomanry concentrated on local defence. In 1827, it was decided for financial reasons to reduce the number of yeomanry regiments, disbanding those that had not been required to assist

2440-540: The grouping. However the individual corps were to continue to exist. As in the earlier legislation, a volunteer could resign with fourteen days notice, with the addition that if a commanding officer refused to remove a volunteer from the roll of the corps, then he could appeal to two justices of the peace of the county. An annual inspection by an officer of the regular army was instituted, and efficiency standards were to be set by Order in Council , as were regulations for governing

2501-409: The lord-lieutenant. If disabled on service, officers and volunteers were to receive a pension. Part III dealt with discipline and part IV with the rules and property of the corps. Part V dealt with the process of acquiring land for shooting ranges. Apart from the corps taking ownership of the land, a municipal corporation or private company could grant a licence to the volunteers to use their land for

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2562-550: The lord-lieutenant. The Isle of Man was also to dealt with as if it were a county of England, with the Lieutenant-Governor performing the same role as a county lord-lieutenant. In 1872, under the provisions of the Regulation of the Forces Act 1871, jurisdiction over the volunteers was removed from the county lord-lieutenants and placed under the Secretary of State for War . Volunteer units became increasingly integrated with

2623-684: The part-time Reserve Forces , which had at various times included the Honourable Artillery Company , Militia Force (also referred to as the Constitutional Force , and originally an infantry force), the Yeomanry Force (made up of mounted units, organised similarly to the Volunteer Force), Volunteer Force , and Fencibles . Equivalents were also raised in the Crown Dependencies and many colonies. Known collectively as

2684-487: The part-time Volunteer Force of the United Kingdom. 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

2745-429: The professionalism of the Yeomanry Force, numbers remained low (only 10,617 in 1881). In 1876, the role of the Yeomanry Force was fixed as that of light cavalry . During the previous decades, horse artillery troops had been raised to be attached to a number of yeomanry regiments and dismounted detachments appeared where horses were not available in sufficient numbers. These supernumerary units were now abolished. During

2806-862: The purpose. Justices of the peace were given the power to close rights of way adjacent to ranges. The Act concluded by defining the counties to which the corps were to belong: for the purposes of the Act the Isle of Wight , the Tower Hamlets and the Cinque Ports were separate counties, with the Governor of the Isle of Wight, the Constable of the Tower of London and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports commissioning officers in place of

2867-410: The recommendations of the commission, and to replace the 1804 legislation, the Volunteer Act 1863 ( 26 & 27 Vict. c. 65) was passed. Part I of the Act dealt with the organisation of the Volunteer Force. It became lawful for "Her Majesty to accept the services of persons desiring to be formed under the Act into a Volunteer Corps, and offering their services to Her Majesty through the Lieutenant of

2928-431: The regimental title. Some of the units still in existence in 1914 dated back to those created in the 1790s, while others had been created during a period of expansion following on the Boer War. After the First World War, the Territorial Force was disbanded and later reformed and redesignated as the Territorial Army . Following the experience of the war, only the fourteen senior yeomanry regiments retained their horses, with

2989-488: The rest being re-designated as armoured car companies , artillery , engineers , or signals . Two regiments were disbanded. The converted units retained their yeomanry traditions, with some artillery regiments having individual batteries representing different yeomanry units. On the eve of the Second World War in 1939, the Territorial Army was doubled in size, with duplicate units formed; this led to some regiments being de-amalgamated. The last mounted regiment of yeomanry

3050-416: The rifle corps subsequently formed volunteer medical detachments affiliated to the Army Medical Corps . In a handful of counties, units of light horse or mounted rifles were formed. Two volunteer units whose services had been accepted by Queen Victoria during the early 1850s became the two senior rifle corps of the new force. These were the Exeter and South Devon Volunteers , formed in 1852, who became

3111-423: The shortfall of soldiers in the Regular Army . The situation had been complicated by the fact that both auxiliary forces were under the control of the Home Office until 1855. Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following the Orsini affair , an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III on 14 January 1858. It emerged that the would-be assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have

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3172-403: The volunteers having to purchase their own rifles and uniforms was felt by some to exclude the lower classes. Unlike regular rifle regiments, the volunteer units had colours often made and presented by the women of the community. These were unauthorised, however, with the Volunteer Regulations stating "Neither Standards nor Colours are to be carried by Corps on parade, as the Volunteer Force

3233-411: The word "yeoman" in normal use meant a small farmer who owned his land, Yeomanry officers were drawn from the nobility or the landed gentry, and many of the men were the officers' tenants or had other forms of obligation to the officers. At its formation, the force was referred to as the Yeomanry Cavalry . Members of the yeomanry were not obliged to serve overseas without their individual consent. During

3294-517: Was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the Territorial Force in 1908. Most of the regiments of the present Army Reserves Infantry , Artillery , Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units. Prior to

3355-413: Was far from universal, however, with some corps retaining their original names and distinctive dress until 1908. The artillery volunteers were similarly remodelled as reserve formations of the Royal Artillery , eventually being redesignated as Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) in 1902, while the Engineer Volunteers became Royal Engineers (Volunteers). The volunteers finally saw active service during

3416-471: Was instituted in September 1930. In the order of wear prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood , the Volunteer Officers' Decoration takes precedence after the Army Emergency Reserve Decoration and before the Volunteer Long Service Medal . The decoration is an oval skeletal design and was struck in silver, with parts of the obverse in silver-gilt. It is 43 millimetres (1.69 inches) high and 35.5 millimetres (1.4 inches) wide with

3477-399: Was instituted, the Volunteer Officers' Decoration for India and the Colonies . 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 Crown Dependencies awarded the Volunteer Officers' Decoration instead of the Colonial version, until the Efficiency Decoration

3538-502: Was merged with the Yeomanry in 1908 to become the Territorial Force , 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 Territorial Decoration . The Volunteer Officers' Decoration continued to be awarded in some colonies and Crown Dependencies (such as to officers of

3599-455: Was superseded by the Territorial Decoration 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. The "Home" (ie., British Isles ) Volunteer Force

3660-405: Was the Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons , who were converted to an armoured role in March 1942, and later converted into an infantry battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry —KOYLI. Volunteers from the Yeomanry served in the Long Range Desert Group from 1940 through to 1943, incorporated into "Y Patrol". There were reductions in the size of the TA in both 1957 and 1961, which led to

3721-465: Was the 1st Northumberland formed at Tynemouth on 2 August 1859. Initially, there were attempts at class distinction with the middle class seeing the formation of rifle units as a contrast with the strict class divide between the officers of the gentry and the other ranks of the working class and farm labourers of the militia and the standing army. Some also compared the initiative, small unit tactics and marksmanship principles of rifle regiments of

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