Bullion and Silver Victorian award badges

[Brian Conyngham]

Hi All

I hope you all enjoy these.

The Scottish National Artillery Association was formed in 1883 with the expressed aim of encouraging enrolment in Volunteer Artillery units and improving their proficiency. They held an annual camp at Barry Buddon in Forfarshire, at which one of the main events comprised competitions for a variety of prizes with teams from all over Scotland and the north of England taking part. Among the prizes awarded would have been one for the highest aggregate score over several of the individual competitions – the winning unit usually received a cup or trophy of some sort, while individual members of the team were awarded a special arm badge. These badges were embroidered in gold and silver wire .


The MVA on the Silver Badge stands for Midlothian Artillery Volunteers. Formed in 1859 as the Midlothian Coast Artillery Volunteer Corps, the ‘Coast’ was dropped from the title in 1888. Position (or heavy) artillery was one of the categories competed for by these volunteer artillery units from 1888, and in 1895 separate competitions were held for garrison and position artillery, prizes and badges/medals were awarded for each category.