The Ceylon Volunteer Service Medal

• Time Period: Interwar Period
• Year of Institution: 1919
• Country: Great Britain, Ceylon

The Ceylon Volunteer Service Medal is a non-wearable campaign medal awarded by the Government of Ceylon to all members of the Ceylonese armed forces that volunteered for overseas service during World War I.

The medal was the only one of its kind, Ceylon being the only British crown colony to issue a medal of its own for its citizens’ service in the war. Those awarded the medal were servicemen of either the Ceylon Defence Force, including the all-European Ceylon Planters’ Rifle Corps, or the Ceylon Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

Although the exact number of medals struck is disputed, sources cite numbers between 450 and 3000. 

The Ceylon Volunteer Service Medal Design

The medal is cast in bronze and measures 45 by 52 by 3 millimeters.

The obverse bears the personification of Ceylon- a seated, right-facing robed, and laureate female figure placing, with her right hand, a laurel wreath crown on the bowed head of a left-facing soldier kneeling on his left knee. The soldier rests his cap on the ground with his right hand, while the background depicts a multi-rayed sun setting into the sea behind them. An inscription above the scene reads: “PRESENTED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF CEYLON TO THOSE WHO VOLUNTARILY GAVE THEIR SERVICES OVERSEAS IN THE GREAT WAR OF 1914 – 1919“. Above the words is a short piece of laurel wreath, bound.

The reverse shows a front-facing illustration of a winged, robed and laureate Victory seated on a throne. Her right hand is raised aloft, holding a laurel wreath, while her left holds a shield emblazoned with the coat of arms of Ceylon. A plaque inscribed with the recipient’s name is located at the figure’s feet, above a skull and spiked helmet obscuring a horizontal scythe.

The medal was awarded without a ribbon.