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Mint:
London
Ruler:
Victoria (1837-1901)
Artist:
Wyon, Leonard Charles
Ruler:
Victoria regina
(With the title of)
The Army of India Medal's issue in 1849 having marked the previous half-century's combats in the region, further conflicts in the 1850s led in 1854 to the design and issue of a General Service Medal for the theatre, for which bars would be issued as each new campaign merited.
British India met Afghanistan at the North-West Frontier. Since British influence over Afghanistan competed with the Burmese kingdom of Ava and Russia, the region beyond the frontier, composed of a large number of more-or-less independent tribal statelets, was of great importance to British interests and required continual suppression by `punitive expeditions'. For the lesser ones of these the North West Frontier bar was awarded in 1869, but some expeditions were thought to merit individual bars. One such was that of the Umbeyla Expedition in 1863 by the Yusafzai Field Force, sent to quell a rising by the Pathan Bunerwal tribe in combination with Hindustani Muslim extremists. The extremists' fort at Malka was destroyed but not without fierce Bunerwal resistance.
A memorial to those killed in the campaign still stands in the Umbeyla pass, including 22 men of the 101st Bengal Fusiliers, in whose ranks also served Private W. Small, whose medal this is. Lester Watson acquired it at some point before 1928.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, acquired before 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36.3 mm
Weight: 39.5 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
1869 - 1895
Inscription present: Bust of Victoria facing left
Inscription present: Victory crowning seated Classical warrior with laurel wreath
Accession number: CM.1260-2009
Primary reference Number: 141354
Watson Catalogue: 161
Ordering: M-0143
Previous object number: LW.0143
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Indian General Service Medal (1854-95)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141354 Accessed: 2024-12-23 05:16:08
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141354
|title=Indian General Service Medal (1854-95)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 05:16:08|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-141354
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0143_281_29.jpg"
alt="Indian General Service Medal (1854-95)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Indian General Service Medal (1854-95)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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