The Medal Engraver

The Service Medal of the Order of St John is awarded to recognise both conspicuous and long service with the Venerable Order of St John, particularly in St John Ambulance, both in the United Kingdom and in a number of other Commonwealth countries and Hong Kong. The award was announced in the St Johns Ambulance Brigade General Regulations for 1895 and minted in 1899, though the first honourees had been selected the previous year. It is the only Commonwealth medal to retain the effigy of Queen Victoria on a current issue, the image based on a bust of the queen created by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. The medal’s design has been largely unaltered since its creation, though the script changed from gothic to serriffed capital letters in 1960, and the metal composition has evolved from its original silver, to silver plated base metal in 1947, silver plated cupro-nickel in 1960, before reaching its current rhodium-plated cupro-nickel composition in 1966. The medal had a ring suspension until 1913, when a straight bar suspension was introduced. The original practice of naming the recipient on the rim of the medal gradually ceased, except in New Zealand and South Africa.