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Regular army
Soldiers qualified for the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal if they met the eligibility criteria (which required eighteen years service, with war service counting double).
- This award was recorded in a roll, held in the National Archives in series WO102 and now available in digitised form as a free-of-charge download. The roll is organised by regiment and goes up to awards made in 1919.
- Awards made after 1919 are not yet public information.
Territorial Force
Instituted in 1908 when the Territorial Force was established, the TF Efficiency Medal was a long service award. Previous service with the Volunteers or Yeomanry up to 31 March 1908 would count towards this total if continuous. Embodied war service counted double toward this total IF the man had been embodied at the outbreak of the war; and that he had signed the Imperial Service Obligation by 11 November 1918; and that he re-engaged or re-enlisted within three months of his discharge. If he failed on any of these criteria his war service did not count as double. The medal was renamed as the “Territorial Efficiency Medal” in 1920.
The rules were complex.
Notes on qualification
Completing the twelve years of service (ten for the yeomen) was in itself not a qualification for the medal: the trainings had to have been carried out, too.
Service before 1 April 1908 in the Imperial Yeomanry or Volunteer Force would count towards the total for every year in which had had been rated as efficient, provided he was still serving on 31 March 1908 and re-enlisted into the Territorial Force by 30 June 1908.
Service that would qualify for the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal or the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service Medal could be counted for the purposes of the TFEM as long as the man had served at least five years in the Teritorial Force.
Service rendered as an officer was allowed to count if the man was commissioned after serving in the ranks of the Territorial Force during the war, and who had within three months of relinquishing his commission re-enlisted into the ranks of the Territorial Force. The re-enlistment proviso was waived in the case where an officer had relinquished his commission due to wounds or sickness contracted in service during the war.
Service in a cadet unit was allowed to count if it was rendered between the ages of 15 and 17 in a Cadet Corps or Cadet Battalion which belonged to the cadet organisation before 21 May 1910, provided the man had enlisted into the Territorial Force within six month sof leaving his cadet unit.
Broken periods of service in the Yeomanry, Volunteers, Colonial Auxiliary Forces or the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve would be recognised as continuous as long as the break was not more than 12 months at a time and prior to 31 March 1908.
Men who enlisted from service in the Territorial Force into the regular army, the navy or the air force for the duration of the war could count that service towards their total.
Men who during the war were discharged from the Territorial Force on account of wounds or sickness contracted in service during the war who then at any time during the embodiment of the force re-enlisted would not be regarded as having broken their service. The period they were away would be counted as continuous service.
Notes on doubling
Men who were serving in the Territorial Force on 4 August 1914 and who were embodied under the Royal Proclamation of the date, and signed the Imperial Service Obligation before 11 November 1918, were allowed to count their embodied service as double and any period of not less than two months embodied service in each calendar year would count as two of their required trainings. Not more than two of the required trainings could arise from one one calendar year. (For example, a man who attended Annual Training camp in July 1914 could not count that one training in addition to his two trainings from “not less than two months” of embodied service between the August and December of that year.)
Men who were not embodied under the Royal Proclamation could only count not less than two months embodied service in each calendar year would count as one of their required trainings.(For example, a man enlistin and being embodied in January 1915 and then served throughout that year could count it as two years towards his twelve but only one towards his trainings.)
Other notes
Men released for work of national importance could not count that time towards their twelve years, but the release was not considered to be a break in continuous service.
In 1920 a clasp was introduced for issue to men who had served two full qualifying periods (including the doubling mentioned above, which for those who were embodied throughout the Great War became a little easier to achieve).
Records
You may find reference to the Efficiency Medal on the man’s campaign medal index card. It will usually mention an Army Order (AO).
Photocopies of the lists of names are held at the National Archives in collection WO102/30 (this piece covers the Great War period). They are not digitised for availability online.