Indian General Service Medal (1908-35): CM.1277-2009

Maker(s)

Mint: London
Mint: Royal Mint
Ruler: George V (1910-36)
Artist: Garbe, Richard
Ruler: GEORGIVS V KAISAR. I. HIND (With the title of)

Entities

• Indian General Service Medal (1908-35)
• Medals
• Military
• Britain
• British Army

Categories

• Medal

Description

The India Medal of 1895 having needed alteration for its last issues due to the death of Queen Victoria, in 1908 it was decided to replace it entirely with a new medal of Edward VII, which was first issued in 1909. When the first issue was made under King George V, in 1911, Richard Garbe designed a new obverse but the medal was otherwise unaltered.
The North West Frontier that divided India and Afghanistan was a continual source of military trouble throughout the British rule of India, and very many medals and bars were issued for engagements there. One of the last was this issue of the Indian General Service Medal, awarded to forces involved in the suppression of a rising among the Afridi tribes beyond the border in 1930, and in that of the so-called Red Shirt Rebellion, a fledgling independence movement occasioned by the limited successes of the Indian Independence movement to the south-east.
This example was awarded to Private R. J. Darling of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. It was one of the last pieces acquired by Lester Watson, purchased from the London dealers Baldwin in 1936.

Notes

History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Baldwin 1936

Legal notes

Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester

Dating

1931 CE - 1935 CE