O.C. Neale. Sgt. Middlesex Comp.

[C.Neale]

Hi There, wondering if any kind soul can shed some light on this chap.

Came across a Victorian Period Long Service Volunteer Force Medal.

But can't seem to find a starting point for any research 

Wonder if there is a Roll, etc. which might have a Christian name to work from.

Thanks for any help.

[Andy J2022]

The Volunteer Long Service Medla was instituted in 1894 and was discontinued in 1908. However awards continued to be made after that date for men whose accrued service ran over the end date. The Volunteer Force itself had been created in 1859 and existed until it was replaced by the Territorial Force in 1907. To qualify for the medal, the man needed to have 20 years continuous service in the Volunteer Force (and Territiorial Force after 1907). There used to be a database on Militaryarchive.co.uk of some of the 4500 Volunteers who received the medal but it seems the website has closed and WayBack machine cannot access the database. It maybe that one of the genealogy websites like Forces War Records or Ancestry may have acquired the database, but I haven't been able to find it. The original medals rolls should be with the National Archives, but I haven't attempted to find them.
The reference to Middlesex Comp (?) in the title may mean that he was in a Volunteer Force unit based in Middlesex, which at that time covered a large part of London North of the Thames. Two particular units had Middlesex in their titles: 1st (Hanover Square) Middlesex Artillery Volunteer Corps and the 19th (St Giles and St George's Bloomsbury) Middlesex RVC, later known as the Bloomsbury Rifles.

[C.Neale]

Hey Andy,

Thank you for a bit of history with this one, was starting to think I was running into a brick wall, but with luck the Roll you mentioned might have been absorbed by one of those sites you mentioned.
Interesting to learn about timescales, makes me wonder if he ever saw service else where.

Opens some lines of investigations, appreciate the help  Thank You

[ShaunJ]

OMRS has the published the medal roll online but it's available to members only. I think you would have to contact your local branch and perhaps pay a membership fee

https://www.omrs.org/news/omrs/uk-volunteer-long-service-medal-roll-now-available#:~:text=The%20Volunteer%20Long%20Service%20Medal,recipients%20and%20those%20from%20Bermuda.

[ShaunJ]

Looking in the Army and Navy Gazette and the Volunteer Record & Shooting News, the few references  to a "Middlesex Company" are mostly for the Militia Medical Staff Corps but there is one for the Middlesex Company of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. How odd.

[C.Neale]

Will have a look and ask around, someone might be able to search the OMRS for me. Thank you for the help  ShaunJ

[ShaunJ]

You say you "came across" this medal. Can you post a photo or a link?

[C.Neale]

Hi Shaun,
Unable to take an image of the medal at this time but SJT O.C.NEALE MIDDX. V.R.C.
 

[Andy J2022]

Just in case it wasn't obvious to you, VRC stands for Volunteer Rifle Corps. Very often you see it written as Rifle Volunteers. Their were the TA or Army Reserve of their day, along with the Militia and their members were part timers. After the Childers Reform of 1881 the Rifle Volunteers became a battalion (sometimes two or more battalions) within the structure of their local Regular Army Regiment, usually having a title such as 3rd Volunteer Battalion the Blankshire Regiment. Given that the only abbreviation indicating his Regiment is Middx, I would be inclined to think this was a reference to the Middlesex Regiment. As you can see from this Wikipedia entry, that regiment had  several volunteer rifle battalions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesex_Regiment