Army Medical Staff pattern full dress sword belt : Lieutenant Colonel R Vandeleur Kelly, NSW Army Medical Corps

Black patent leather sword belt, 38 mm wide, embroidered with two stripes of gold bullion thread, fitted with a gilded universal locket buckle fitted with a white metal badge of the NSW Military Forces. The proper right side of the belt is looped back on itself and is attached via a brass slider and a leather keeper, allow the belt to be adjusted. The proper left side of the belt is fitted with a pair of 26 mm wide sword slings of black leather, similarly faced with gold bullion thread. The shorter (355mm long) forward sling is mounted through a fixed gilded brass buckle with attached sword hook, and sits over a half circle of leather, designed to prevent wear on uniform, while the longer (625 mm long) sling is attached to a sliding loop of leather, allowing adjustment. The manufacturer's details are stamped in gold inside the belt behind the locket.

Related to the service of Robert Vandeleur Kelly. Kelly was born at Glencara, Ireland on 26 July 1843 and educated at Bonn and later at The King's School, Parramatta. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, graduating in 1873, and worked as a dispensary medical officer in the Westmeath Militia. Following his marriage in 1877 and a further 12 years as medical surgeon associated with a number of militia units, Kelly emigrated to Australia in 1889. Here, he established a practice in Sydney. Commissioned in the NSW Military Forces on 12 October 1889 and promoted to surgeon major on 9 January 1896, Kelly was the founder of the St John Ambulance Corps in NSW in 1890. As a temporary lieutenant colonel, Kelly served with the second and third contingents to the Boer War, commanding the NSW Army Medical Corps and serving in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and was mentioned in dispatches. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1902 and died in 1913. He can be seen wearing this belt in image P05942.001.