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Indian Mutiny Medal: CM.1280-2009

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Mint: London
Artist: Wyon, William
Artist: Wyon, Leonard Charles
Ruler: Victoria (1837-1901)
Ruler: Victoria regina (With the title of)

Entities

Categories

Description

The Indian Mutiny of 1857, now regarded in some quarters of India as the First Indian War of Independence, has a history far too complex to be fairly explained here. In briefest summary, resentment at British snubbing of both Hindu and Muslim religious practices among the Sepoy (indigenous) troops of the British East India Company, whose complaints were regarded as mere superstitious nonsense by the European officers of the Company, became the spark that ignited a metaphorical powder keg of Bengali and Northern Indian resentment at the Company's taxation policies, its ever-more-extensive expropriations of Indian landowners' and rulers' territories under threat of arms, and its rearrangement of the Indian economy to suit the Company's entirely commercial interests.
Initial arson attacks and insubordination in early 1857 were followed by whole-unit mutinies and before long coordinated attacks by indigenous soldiery on Europeans in Indian towns. Full-scale war followed, and an initially-slow British resistance, still aided by many Indian troops, entailed perhaps as vicious a set of atrocities against the rebels as they or their civilian cohorts had committed against Europeans. Indian forces were uncoordinated, despite Bahadur Shah Zafur, Emperor of the Mughal rump state around Delhi, being proclaimed Emperor of all India and Sepoy rebels rallying to his standard. British and pro-British forces had secured the country again by mid-1858, and a programme of purges that became known as "the Devil's Wind", including thousands of executions, sometimes of whole village populations, attempted to ensure that the event would not be repeated. Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon, and the East India Company's rule taken over directly by the British Crown.
One of the first British counter-moves was to send two columns to Delhi, where Bahadur Shah's rule offered an obvious target. A battle against the main rebel force at Badl-ke-Serai drove the Sepoys back onto Delhi and the British there besieged them as far as possible, this and their artillery support not being sufficient to take the city before two months had passed.
Elsewhere in India, the British garrison at Lucknow, in the recently-annexed state of Oudh, was warned of the rising in time to fortify the British Residency. Despite a 90-day siege in which the Sepoy opposition brought up artillery and in which the 1700 British or loyalist troops were reduced to 650 fit for battle, the Residency was held, although an initial relief expedition could not lift the siege and had to join the garrison for a further month of siege. Lucknow was finally relieved in October 1857, evacuated and retaken in 1858.
The bars to this medal indicate that its recipient, Private William Baxendale of the 1st Battalion, 8th Regiment, was part of the forces that besieged and captured Mughal Delhi and then marched to the relief of Lucknow. The latter force also went on to relieve Kanpur, but by this time Baxendale appears to have no longer been fighting. Lester Watson purchased his medal at some point before 1928.

Notes

History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt before 1928

Legal notes

Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 36.3 mm
Weight: 44.15 g

Place(s) associated

  • London

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

1858 - 1868

Materials used in production

Silver

Techniques used in production

Struck

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: Bust of Victoria facing left

  • Text: VICTORIA REGINA
  • Location: Obverse
  • Type: Design

Inscription present: Britannia before lion standing facing left, she with wreath in right hand

  • Location: Reverse
  • Type: Design

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: CM.1280-2009
Primary reference Number: 141374
Watson Catalogue: 182
Ordering: M-0163
Previous object number: LW.0163
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 15 January 2024 Last processed: Monday 15 January 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Coins and Medals

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Indian Mutiny Medal" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141374 Accessed: 2024-03-29 07:23:42

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141374 |title=Indian Mutiny Medal |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-29 07:23:42|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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