Chats on Military Curios

by Stanley C. Johnson

THE AFGHAN MEDAL

SOUTH AFRICAN MEDAL, 1877-9.

The siege and capture of Seringapatam, which culminated in the death of that arch-enemy, Tippoo Sahib, was the occasion for issuing a Madras medal, according to a general order dated July 18, 1808. Gold pieces were given to senior officers, silver gilt pieces to field officers, silver pieces to junior officers, bronze pieces to the rank and file of the British force, and tin pieces to sepoys. The design was attractive: on the obverse appeared a landscape view of our gallant men storming Seringapatam, whilst a lion overwhelming a tiger filled the reverse. The medal was not made in Calcutta, as was usually the case with the Indian decorations, but at Birmingham.

Collectors have often been at a loss to know how the Indian awards were intended to be worn. In reference to the Seringapatam distinction, Mayo, in "Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy," says: "There is no doubt that they were issued unmounted, and as no directions had been given by the authorities the details as to ribbon and mountings devolved on the recipients, who exercised their own discretion and taste. It is, however, probable that the European officers wore them as the gold medals for the Peninsular and other campaigns were worn—i.e. round the neck, or at the button-hole, according to rank. Some added a clasp bearing the word Seringapatam.

"Three patterns of ribbon, at least, appear to have been used, viz. red with blue borders, yellow watered, and plain red. That the first was used under some sort of authority is gathered from a discussion which took place between the Madras Government and the Commander-in-Chief in 1831, on the occasion of the distribution of the medals awarded to the native troops in the first Burmese war. The Commander-in-Chief had proposed that a piece of red ribbon with blue borders should be issued with each medal. The Government assented to the issue of the ribbon but objected to the pattern on the ground of its resemblance to the Waterloo ribbon. To this the Commander-in-Chief replied that the ribbon he had proposed was common to all medals granted by His Majesty in modern times, and was considered to be the medal ribbon of England. He added: 'The medals of Seringapatam and Java are both suspended from it, and both are so worn with the sanction of His Majesty.' This is authoritative evidence of the medal being worn with the only military ribbon then in use.

"Lord Harris, who commanded at Seringapatam, wore his medal, gold, suspended round his neck by the red, blue-bordered ribbon, as the gold medal was worn by general officers. A bust of his lordship was exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, at Chelsea in 1890. This showed the medal worn round the neck, with a clasp inscribed 'Seringapatam.'"

A second Seringapatam medal, almost similar in design to the first, was struck in 1808 and presented to British as well as native troops by order of the East India Company. This decoration was made at Calcutta.

The next medal takes us to Egypt and recalls to mind a number of desperate encounters between the English and French. In the year 1800 an army of 15,000 British soldiers, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, had been assembled in the peninsula. The French were already massed there in great numbers, being more than double our strength. On March 21, 1801, a bloody contest took place at Alexandria, and Abercrombie fell mortally wounded. Reinforcements were necessary, and these were supplied by the East India Company, which dispatched an expeditionary force of native troops with commendable promptitude. On returning to India in 1803, the Government of Bombay promised the men a campaign medal—that is to say, a medal would be granted to each individual who set out to fight for the British cause. Nine years elapsed before the medal was struck, but it is gratifying to know that specimens were given to the descendants of all soldiers whose demise had taken place in the meantime. Sixteen gold and 2,199 silver copies were struck at a cost of R. 5519.8.

The obverse of this award showed a sepoy holding a Union Jack, whilst in the background the tents of the Indian camp were revealed. A Persian inscription filled the exergue (i.e. the section of the circular face of the medal cut off from the rest by a straight line). The reverse revealed a wooden British ship nearing the coast, presumably of Egypt. The date, MDCCCI, was added.