The Volunteer Officers' Decoration (V.D.), sometimes just referred to as the Volunteer Decoration, was instituted in 1892 to reward the "long and meritorious services of Officers of proved capacity in Our Volunteer Force" in Great Britain, and then extended in 1894 to include commissioned officers of all Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire. The qualifying period was 20 years of service (excepting in India, where the period was only 18 years), with half of any previous years' service in the Regular Army also counting towards qualification. The award did not confer any individual precedence but entitled the recipient to use the postnominal letters V.D. after their name. It was superseded in the colonies and India by other medals in 1899, and within the UK by the Territorial Decora