IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 141340 accession number: CM.1246-2009 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Monday 25 March 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: The numerous campaigns of the forces of the British East India Company were not officially recognised with a medal until 1851, in the same move as that which created the Military and Naval General Service Medals for service in the contemporary French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The resulting Army of India medal covered battles from 1799 to 1826 in a theatre where many subsequent conflicts had arisen, so many of those involved were no longer living. Queen Victoria, by whose order the medal was issued and whose bust it therefore carried, was likewise not on the throne for the actions for which it was awarded. Despite supporting the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, Baji Rao II, against his malcontents in the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803, British forces invaded the Empire in 1817 with the declared aim of punishing Pindari border raiders, and Baji Rao was rapidly forced to flight. His various subordinate kings however resisted the British independently, among them being Mudhoji II Bhonsle of Nagpur, who had succeeded in a coup in 1816. Facing not only British forces but those of the wealthy Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad, his army was defeated at Sitabuldi near the capital of Nagpur, and extensive territorial concessions forced from him. He was deposed soon afterwards, and a British Resident installed to oversee the rule of his infant successor. Nagpur was finally subsumed into the British Central Provinces in 1853. This medal was awarded to Naick Balloo of the 27th Native Infantry. Lester Watson purchased it in an auction in November 1926. title: Army of India Medal NOTES ----- type: history note value: Goft of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt `Auction 11/1926' LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Coins and Medals collection: Lester Watson Collection creditline: Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009 STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141340 TECHNIQUES ---------- struck CATEGORIES ------ category: medal DATING ------ creation date: 1851 - 1851 creation date earliest: 1851 creation date latest: 1851 CREATORS -------- maker: London maker: East India Company maker: Wyon, William maker: Victoria (1837-1901) maker: Victoria regina DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Diameter units: mm value: 36 dimension: Weight units: g value: 38.74 CITATIONS -------- British Battles and Medals 7th edn British and other Campaign and Gallantry Medals From the Collection of Lester Watson (d. 1959) --- IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 118 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 118 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 118 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 118 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 110 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 110 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 110 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0129_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 110 pixels