War Medals and Their HistorySteward, William Augustus
History
War Medals and Their History
Steward, William Augustus
Great Britain. Army -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Medals, badges, decorations, etc.
The regiments engaged at Sobraon were: H.M.'s 9th, 10th, 29th, 31st,
50th, 53rd, and 62nd Infantry Regiments; 3rd Light Dragoons; 9th and
16th Lancers; 1st Bengal Europeans; 1st and 2nd Goorkas; 1 company
12th, 16th, wing of 24th, 26th, 33rd, some of the 38th, 41st, 42nd,
43rd, 47th, 59th, 63rd, and 68th Bengal Native Infantry; with the 45th
and 59th in reserve; 3rd, 4th, and 5th Bengal Light Cavalry; 2nd, 8th,
and 9th Irregular Cavalry; 10 troops of Horse Artillery; 11 companies
Foot Artillery. The 73rd Bengal Native Infantry stationed at Rhodawalla
also received the medal. It should be noted that the record of
regiments engaged does not necessarily represent all the units taking
part. Details and drafts from various corps were often present through
one cause or another, or by accident. This should be borne in mind
whenever a medal comes under notice. The medal rolls will generally
assist, but there have been instances, and very serious ones for the
collector, where the want of accuracy in a medal roll has cost him
very dearly. Dr. Payne gives an instance of this on page 74 of "British
and Foreign Orders, War Medals and Decorations," a bar for Corygaum
being on a medal awarded to a man of the 65th Foot, as well as the bar
for Poona. The first-named bar made the medal one of the rarest of the
series issued to a British soldier, but the medal roll led Dr. Payne to
think it a fraud, which later evidence demonstrated was not the case.
=The Sutlej Medal.=--The first, or Sutlej medal, 1¼ in. in diameter,
bearing the legend "ARMY OF THE SUTLEJ," was given with three bars
for four battles; that is to say, that those who fought through all
the battles had their record on the medal and three bars. A soldier
taking part in the battle of MOODKEE would have the name impressed
in raised letters, with the date, 1845, in the exergue of the medal,
and the succeeding battles on the bars, as in the illustration facing
page 112, of a medal awarded to a man of the 31st Royal East Surrey
Regiment--this and the 50th Royal West Kent Regiment being the only two
British regiments to receive the three bars, for FEROZESHUHUR, ALIWAL,
and for SOBRAON, the battle which determined the first campaign.
This was the first Indian medal issued with bars. The ribbon is dark
blue, edged with dark crimson. The medal, with W. WYON, R.A., on the
truncation of the Queen's head and W.W. above the left-hand corner of
the exergue, is generally considered a good one, and certainly it does
stand out among the many issued during the reign of Queen Victoria as
symbolic and suited for its purpose. The names of the recipients are
impressed in Roman capitals on the edges. The medal is attached to
the ribbon by means of a scroll bar fixed to the medal by a claw clip
acting on a swivel, so that the medal may be turned about when fixed on
the breast.
SECOND PUNJAB CAMPAIGN
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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