[3] The United Kingdom's Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was instituted by King William IV in 1830.

[4] On 31 May 1895, Queen Victoria authorised Colonial governments to adopt, amongst others, the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and to award it to other ranks of their local permanent military forces.

Their respective versions of the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal were identical to the Queen Victoria version of the United Kingdom's medal, but with the names of the respective territories inscribed in a curved line above the inscription "FOR LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT" on the reverse.

[1][9] The Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal could be awarded to warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men who had completed eighteen years of irreproachable service in the ranks of a Permanent Force of any of the Dominions and Colonies of the British Empire.

[2][13] The obverse of the first version of the medal has a raised rim and depicts the effigy of King Edward VII in the uniform of a Field Marshal, facing left.

[2][13] The second version of the medal was instituted after the coronation of King George V on 22 June 1911 and depicts his effigy in the uniform of a Field Marshal, facing left.

Around the perimeter, between the circumferences of two concentric circles, it bears the inscription "PERMANENT FORCES OF THE EMPIRE BEYOND THE SEAS" and, in the centre "FOR LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT" in four lines.

[13] The Permanent Forces of the Empire Beyond the Seas Medal and the United Kingdom's Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal were both superseded on 23 September 1930, when a new Royal Warrant was promulgated by King George V to establish a single Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct (Military) for the British Army and all regular and permanent military forces of the British Empire.