Voluntary Medical Services Medal

 

The Voluntary Medical Services Medal was instituted in 1932 to recognise 15 years’ service undertaken by women and men on behalf of the British Red Cross Society or St. Andrew’s Ambulance Corp in Scotland.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and is struck in either silver or cupro-nickel. The obverse of this medal bears the veiled bust of a female symbolic of a nurse or Florence Nightingale holding an oil lamp.

 

The reverse depicts the cross of Geneva and St. Andrew along with the inscription; ‘FOR LONG AND EFFICENT SERVICE’.

 

The ribbon suspender is of the plain, straight and non-swivelling style attached by a fastening that surmounts the medal.

 

The recipient's details can be found on the medal's rim.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and red in colour with a narrow central white stripe and a yellow stripe towards either edge.

 

 

A bar worn on the ribbon, is issued for every additional 5 years’ service.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on the following:-

 

- The British Red Cross Society.

- The St. Andrew’s Ambulance Corp.

 

The British Red Cross Society - The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom branch of the worldwide impartial humanitarian organisation the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

 

The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more than 27,200 volunteers and 3,700 staff. At the heart of their work is providing help to people in crisis, both in the UK and overseas.

 

The Red Cross is committed to helping people without discrimination, regardless of their ethnic origin, nationality, political beliefs or religion.

 

The British Red Cross was formed in 1870, just seven years after the formation of the international movement in Switzerland. This followed the outbreak of war between France and Prussia, and a move across Europe to form similar societies. On 4 August 1870, after a public, the 'British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War' was formed. It assisted in providing aid to both warring armies in the Franco-Prussian War and subsequent 19th century conflicts, under the protection of the Red Cross Emblem.

 

In 1905, 35 years after its formation, the society was reconstituted as the British Red Cross Society, and was granted its first Royal Charter in 1908 by HM King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, who became its president.

 

Following the start of the 'Great War' in 1914, the British Red Cross joined forces with the Order of St. John Ambulance to form the Joint War committee. They pooled resources and formed Voluntary Aid Detachments (or VADs) with members trained in First Aid, Nursing, Cookery, Hygiene and Sanitation. These detachments all worked under the protection of the Red Cross, working in hospitals, rest stations, work parties and supply centres.

 

The Joint War committee also provided assistance at the front line, supplying the first motorised ambulances to the battlefields, which were significantly more efficient then the horse drawn ambulances they replaced.

 

The Joint War Committee was also active in setting up centres for recording the wounded and missing. Red Cross volunteers searched towns, villages and hospitals where fighting had occurred, noting names of the missing, the injured and the dead. This formed the basis of the international Message and Tracing service, still running today.

 

In 1919, after the cessation of hostilities, the League of the Red Cross (now the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies) was formed, and the role of national societies increased, with a shift of emphasis from wartime relief to focusing on "the improvement of health, the prevention of disease and mitigation of suffering throughout the world".

 

In 1941, the British Red Cross set up the world's first Blood Transfusion service, helping to keep pace with medical advances which required blood, but had no facilities to store it. The British Red Cross stayed involved with blood transfusion past the formation of the National Blood Service and it remained an ancillary role until 1987.

 

The British Red Cross was instrumental in starting overseas societies through the Empire and Commonwealth, most of which are now independent national societies. The Irish Red Cross was founded in 1939.

 

In 1924, the British Red Cross started its youth movement, helping to promote its values to a younger generation.

 

After the declaration of war in 1939, the British Red Cross once again joined with St. John to form the Joint War Organisation, again affording the St. John volunteers protection under the Red Cross emblem.

 

The organisation once again worked in hospitals, care home, nurseries, ambulance units, rest stations and more, much of which was funded by the Duke of Gloucester's Red Cross and St John appeal, which had raised over £54 million by 1946.

 

The Red Cross also famously arranged parcels for prisoners of war, following the provisions of the third Geneva convention in 1929, which laid out strict rules for the treatment of PoWs. The Joint War Organisation sent standard food parcels, invalid food parcels, medical supplies, educational books and recreational materials to prisoners of war worldwide. During the conflict, over 20 million standard food parcels were sent.

Post war years

 

The immediate priorities for the British Red Cross following the war, were the huge number of displaced civilians caused by forced migration during the war. The Red Cross provided much relief for these people, including basic supplies, and helping to reunite people through the Messaging and Tracing Service. This work led to the provisions in the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention to protect civilians caught up in war.

 

Since then, the British Red Cross has provided relief to people worldwide, including during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, in Vietnam in 1976, Famine in Africa in the 1980s and the Colombia Earthquake of 1999. Whilst the society no longer sends its volunteers abroad, it is a leading contributor of delegates to the international red cross pool of emergency relief workers.

 

Between 1948 and 1967 the British Red Cross and the St Andrew's Ambulance Association jointly operated the Scottish Ambulance Service, under contract to the National Health Service. NHS Scotland took over full responsibility for the service in 1974.

 

In the UK, the society has been active at many major disasters, from the coal tip slide at Aberfan in 1966, the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988 to the London bombings in 2005, providing support on all levels, from front line medical provision, to running helplines for worried relatives and long term emotional care for the victims.

 

In July 2008, the society celebrated the 100th anniversary of the granting of the Royal Charter with a garden party at Buckingham Palace. The party was hosted by TRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The St. Andrew’s Ambulance Corp - St Andrew's First Aid was founded in 1882, originally to teach First Aid, provide an ambulance service and teach home nursing and hygiene, and we are governed by a Royal Charter.

 

In is first year ‘…173 cases of accident and sudden illness were removed from the streets of Glasgow and taken to hospital by litter…’

 

Today they still continue to provide First Aid in Scotland.