DEIG, NEPAUL, KIRKEE,[1] POONA,[1] KIRKEE-POONA,[1] SEETABULDEE,[1] NAGPORE,[1] SEETABULDEE-NAGPORE,[1] MAHEIDPOOR, CORYGAUM, AVA, BHURTPOOR.
This medal was awarded “to the surviving officers and soldiers of the Crown and of the East India Company” who took part in any one of seventeen specified actions and operations which occurred in India, Nepaul and Burma, during the first twenty-five years of the 19th century, “including the officers and seamen of the Royal Navy and the Company’s Marine who took part in the first Burmese War.” The queen’s consent to the grant of this medal was announced in the London Gazette by a Notice of the Court of Directors, dated March 21, 1851. It was subsequently notified to the British Army by a Horse Guards G.O., dated March 21, 1851; to the Royal Navy by an Admiralty memorandum of the same date; and to the Army in India by a governor-general’s G.O., dated April 14, 1851. In this medal again there is a discrepancy in dating, for though it is dated 1799–1826, the first action for which it was awarded, the storming of Allighur, took place on September 24, 1803. No medals were issued without clasps, the largest combination of clasps known being five. According to the India Office records there were apparently men entitled to as many as seven clasps, but whether any medal was issued with more than five is very doubtful. That awarded to the duke of Wellington had three clasps, “Assye,” “Argaum” and “Gawilghur.” With the exception of medals issued with the Ava and Bhurtpore clasps, this medal is a rare one, and with a large number of the clasps, all except perhaps those for Nepaul and Maheidpore, an extremely rare one. The rarest of all is “Seetabuldee,” as only two Europeans and two natives are known to have received it. “Defence of Delhi” is also a very rare clasp, as the garrison only comprised two weak battalions of native infantry; as is also “Corygaum,” which was issued to only two Europeans, “both officers,” and seventy-five natives. The only European troops present at Corygaum were an officer and twenty-six men of the Madras Artillery, of whom the officer and twelve men were killed and eight wounded. As the “Burma” medal had already been given to the Company’s native officers and soldiers for the First Burmese War, on y the European officers and men of the Company’s service received the medal with “Ava” clasp; but as the “Nepaul” medal had not been given to all the native troops who actually served “within the hills,” the medal with clasp ”Nepaul” was granted to those native troops who had not received the Nepaul medal, as well as to all the Company’s European officers and men.
15. India, 1852–95 (2nd India G.S., officially styled “India, 1854”).—Awarded by the Government of India as far as the first two issues with their clasps are concerned, all subsequent issues and clasps, with the exception of the last two, by Queen Victoria; the last two issues and clasps by King Edward VII. Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria as in First China Medal. Reverse: Victory standing, crowning a naked warrior sitting. In exergue, a lotus flower and leaves, symbolizing the connexion of the medal with India. Ribbon: Red, with two blue stripes, forming five 14-inch stripes (Plate I.). Clasps: PEGU,[2] PERSIA,[2] NORTH-WEST FRONTIER, UMBEYLA, BHOOTAN, LOOSHAI, PERAK 1875–76,[2] JOWAKI 1877–78, NAGA 1879–80, BURMA 1885–87,[2] SIKKIM 1888, HAZARA 1888, BURMA 1887–89, CHIN-LOOSHAI 1889–90, SAMANA 1891, HAZARA 1891, N.E. FRONTIER 1891, HUNZA 1891, BURMA 1889–92, LUSHAI 1889–92, WAZIRISTAN 1894–95, CHIN HILLS 1892–93, KACHIN HILLS 1892–93.
The queen’s assent to this award, to those of H.M.’s Sea and Land Forces, as well as those belonging to the East India Company’s Establishment enga ed in the Second Burmese War, was first made known to the Government of India in a letter from the Court of Directors, April 6, 1853. In a Minute by Lord Dalhousie, the governor-general, December 9, 1852, it had been suggested “whether it would not be better for the future, instead of issuing a separate Medal for each campaign, to have one Medal, such as the ‘Indian Medal’ (i.e. the ‘India, 1851’ Medal), which should be issued once to each individual entitled: the particular service for which it is granted being recorded upon a Bar, and every subsequent service which may be thought to deserve distinction being recorded by an additional Bar. This plan would avoid the multiplication of Medals, which has accumulated of late years, which humbly think is undesirable.” In another letter from the Court of Directors to the Government of India, March 1, 1854, this suggestion is approved, and it was ordered that after “a suitable design” had been procured (L. C. Wyon designed the reverse), “the Medal to be now struck shall be of a general character, the particular service for which it is now granted, viz. ‘Pegu,’ being recorded on a Bar. In the event of the same soldiers being entitled hereafter to another similar distinction, the service will be recorded by an additional Bar to the same Medal.” Occasional mistakes have however been made, for, since the issue with the clasp for the Perak campaign, from which time it has become customary to date the clasp, many instances have occurred of men having received two medals with clasps for different campaigns. The issue to the Persian Expeditionary Force (1856–1857), with the clasp “Persia,” was awarded by the Court of Directors January 19, 1858, and sanctioned by the queen in the same month. The first issue of the medal by the Crown was authorized April 15, 1859, with the clasps “North-West Frontier” and “Umbeyla,” the former covering various expeditions between 1849 and 1863, the latter the hard-fought Umbeyla Campaign of the latter mentioned year. All subsequent issues of the award were made by Queen Victoria, with the exception of those that carried with them the clasps “Chin Hill 1892–93,” and “Kachin Hills 1892–93,” which were only awarded ten years afterwards by King Edward VII., and notified in Army Order 9 of January 1903; the medal, which had meantime been superseded by the Third India G.S. medal described below, being re-issued with these last two clasps. The combination of clasps with this medal is very numerous, but medals with more than two or three clasps are rare. Seven is probably the greatest number awarded with any one medal, and a medal with this number, viz. “Umbeyla,” “North-West Frontier,” “Jowaki 1877–78,” “Burma 1885–87,” “Hazara 1888,” “Samana 1891,” and “Hunza 1891,” was granted to Bhanga Singh, Sardar Bahadur, who retired as Subadar-Major of No. 4 (Derajat) Mountain Battery. Sir William Lockhart (q.v.) had the medal with six clasps. The rarest of all the clasps is probably “Hunza 1891,” as less than a thousand men were employed, and the majority of these were Cashmere Imperial Service Troops. No European troops received the clasps, “Looshai,” “Naga 1879–80,” or “Hunza 1891.” “Sikkim 1888” is also a rare clasp as only some 2000 troops were employed, the only Europeans being two companies of the 2nd Derbyshire Regiment. So also is “N.E. Frontier 1891,” for in the Manipur expedition for which this clasp was given about 3000 men were employed, the only Europeans being four companies of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. It was with the issue of this medal with the clasp “Burma 1885–87,” that the precedent was set of awarding the medal and clasp in bronze to “all authorized followers,” a precedent that was followed in all subsequent issues.
16. South Africa, 1834–35, 1846–47, 1850–53.—Awarded by Queen Victoria, 1854. (South Africa, 1877–79. Re-issue of first medal. Awarded by Queen Victoria, 1880.) Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria as in First China Medal. Reverse: A lion crouching behind a sugar bush (Protea mellifera). Above, SOUTH AFRICA. In exergue, 1853. In the exergue of the re-issued medal, the lace of the date is taken by a trophy of four assegais and a Zulu shield. Ribbon: Orange watered, with two broad and two narrow blue stripes (Plate II.). Clasps: 1877–78–79, 1878–79, 1877–78, 1878, 1877, 1879.
The command of the queen that a medal should be awarded to the survivors of the forces that had been engaged in the first, second and third Kaffir Wars (1834–35, 1846–47, and 1850–53) was notified by Viscount Hardinge, the commander-in-chief, in a G.O., dated Horse Guards, November 22, 1854. No clasps were issued with this medal. The medal was accorded only to the “regular forces” (including the Cape Mounted Rifles), so local levies did not receive it. In the third Kaffir War a small Naval Brigade and a detachment of Royal Marines took part in the operations, and the survivors received the medal. The award of the re-issue was notified in a G.O. by the duke of Cambridge, commander-in-chief, August 1, 1880. It was to “be granted to Her Majesty’s Imperial Forces, and to such of Her Majesty’s Colonial Forces, European or Native, as were regularly organized and disciplined as combatants, whether raised by the Colonial Government or by the General Officer Commanding.” The operations for which it was given were against the Galekas and Gaikas 1877–78, the Griquas 1878, Basutos 1879, Zulus 187, and Sekukuni 1878–79. In both the operations against the Galelgas and Gaikas, and in the Zulu War of 1879, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines took part and received the medal. The clasps issued with this medal were as noted above and record the year, or years, of service covering all the operations in which the recipient was engaged. No one received a medal with more than one clasp. The medal without a clasp was issued to such troops as were employed in Natal from January to September 1879, but never crossed the border into Zululand.
17. Crimea, 1854–56.—Awarded by Queen Victoria in 1854. Obverse: Head of Queen Victoria as in First China Medal; below, 1854. Reverse: Victory crowning a Roman soldier, who holds a sword in his right hand, and bears on his left arm a shield on which is the figure of a lion. On the left, CRIMEA. Ribbon: Light blue, with narrow yellow borders (Plate I.). Clasps: ALMA, BALAKLAVA, INKERMANN, SEBASTOPOL, AZOFF.[3]
This medal, awarded to both Services, was first notified by a commander-in-chief’s G.O., dated December 15, 1854. The grant was limited to all troops landing in the Crimea up to September 9, 1855—the day on which Sevastopol fell—“unless they shall have been engaged after that date in some expedition or operation against the enemy.” This latter proviso applied in the main to the naval clasp “AZOFF,” the period for which award was extended to the 22nd of November. The clasps for this medal are very ornamental, being in the shape of oak leaves, ornamented with acorns. The Royal Navy and Royal Marines, besides the “Azoff” clasp, received the clasps “Balaklava,” “Inkermann,” “Sebastopol.” The