Scarce submariner Royal Navy MSM LSGC pair. Edwards. Medical Assistant. HMS Repulse

MSM correctly named POMA JT Edwards M9717320 RN

LSGC correctly named M9717320JT Edwars POMA HMS Repulse

Meritorious Service Medal

The Royal Navy’s medal was instituted in 1919, for gallantry not in the face of the enemy and for meritorious service by petty officers and senior naval ratings. It was not awarded after 1928 and was superseded by the Empire Gallantry Medal and the British Empire Medal.

For awards up to 1928, Royal Navy and Marine recipients were, by custom, allowed to use the letters MSM after their name.

Since 1977, the medal has resumed as an award for long and meritorious service by senior petty officers and NCOs in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service.

To be awarded the MSM, an individual must have “good, faithful, valuable and meritorious service, with conduct judged to be irreproachable throughout”. Other ranks must have at least twenty years service, must already hold Long Service and Good Conduct Medals, and for the Army and the Royal Air Force must have reached the equivalent rank of sergeant. Officers of any service can also be considered for the medal immediately after being commissioned, provided they meet the other criteria.

The number of MSMs awarded is limited: no more than fifty-one a year may be awarded in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines combined, eighty-nine in the Army and sixty in the Royal Air Force, and in practice these numbers are not reached.

The medals come with a medal box named JT Edwards. They are swing mounted on a clasp with original silk ribbons as worn.