Volunteer Long Service Medal (India & the Colonies). EDVII issue (Sergt J Campbell B' & N W Ry Rfls)

Medal Verification: The award was published in India Army Order No 684 of 1908 - and the only medal awarded to anyone with the surname Campbell, during the reign of Edward VII

Note: Approximately 34 x awards of the VLSM were made to the Bengal & North West Railway Rifles 1902-1910 (inc) during the reign of King Edward VII

Postive Attribution: A study of available on-line records & directories in the period circa 1885-1925, list only one person with the surname Campbell (and forename initial 'J') that was habitually resident within the territorial scope of the Bengal & North West Railway Rifles, over that period, viz John Walker Campbell (1858-1922) who was an employee of the Government of India's erstwhile 'Opium Department' throughout

John Walker Campbell, son of John Walker (Quartermaster Sergeant 46th Native Infantry) & Rebecca Campbell (daughter of Drum-Major Walker George Henry Walker), was born at, Sialkot Cantonment, Punjab, British India, on, 22 October 1858. John married Adeline Sarah Foster at Bankipore, Patna, Bihar. India, on, 15 January 1885. At the time of the wedding John was 27 years of age, and resident in Ghazipur, where he was employed as an 'Assistant' in the 'Opium Department' (his wife had hitherto been resident in Gulzarbagh). The couple were subsequently blessed with 3 x children, viz, Adelaide Campbell (1885-1953, born at, Gulzarbagh, Bengal, India), Violet Agnes Campbell (1888-1948) & William Hubert Campbell (1890-1946, born at Gulzarbagh, Bengal, India). The birth certificates for the aforementioned record the father employed as Assistant Opium Factory. Thackers Directory issue of 1895, shows J.W. Campbell listed as resident in Gulzarbagh, where he was employed as 'Assistant Store Keeper, Opium Factory, Gulzarbagh, Partna. John Walker Campbell is recorded as having died at Gulzarbagh, Patna, Bihar, British India. on, 16 June 1922. At the time of his death John was described as being a European Pensioner re-employed as a Caretaker with the Bihar & Orissa Fire Brigade

Regimental chronology: The Bengal and North Western Railway Volunteers Rifles, had their origins in two separate older volunteer units that each been raised in 1879, viz Tirhoot Sate Railway Volunteer Rifle Corps (established January 1879), and the Ghazipur Opium Volunteer Rifle Corps (established June 1897). The respective descendent Tirhoot & Ghazipur volunteer units were amalgamated in 1892, and after several name changes were, in, 1901, formally re-styled the Bengal and North Western Railway Volunteer Rifles

Reference the Indian Army List for 1901, the regiment maintained its Headquarters at Benares (now Varanasi) with detachments at below following locations:

- Ghazipur, Ballia, Chunar, Mirzapur, Nonpara, Azamgarg, Jaunpur, Sonepur, Gorakhpur, Samastipur, Mokameh Ghat, Bettiah, Sermaria Ghat, Muzufferpore, Gonda, Basti, Mankapur & Bahraich

Condition: GVF

Code: 21503