The period of eligibility was prior to the Military Service Act 1916, which introduced conscription in Britain.

[7] (Members of the Mercantile Marine qualified only where serving under Royal Naval engagement,[2] as a consequence of signing a T124x agreement.)

The three medals were sometimes irreverently referred to as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred after three comic strip characters, a dog, a penguin and a rabbit, which were popular in the immediate post-war era.

[1][3] The ribbon is 32 millimetres wide and has the red, white and blue colours of the flag of the United Kingdom in shaded and watered bands.

Of the campaign medals awarded to South Africans, the 1914–15 Star takes precedence as shown below.