Natal Native Rebellion.—In 1908 the Natal Government awarded a silver medal to those who took part in suppressing the native rebellion in 1906. The medal, which was supplied by the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company, bears on the obverse a portrait bust of King Edward VII facing to the right, encircled by the legend EDWARDVS VII REX IMPERATOR. On the reverse Natali is represented holding the sword of justice in her right hand, and a palm branch in her left, supported and protected by Britannia, who holds in her left hand the orb of empire. In the exergue is the word NATAL. A broad plain bar is inscribed ·1906· with a large dot on either side. The names, etc., are impressed in light square block capitals, and the ribbon for suspension is a deep red, with black edges. The medal illustrated facing page [198] was issued to the local white forces, including the Natal Horse Corps and about 350 chiefs and leading natives.
Tibet, 1903-4.—Owing to the non-fulfilment of treaty obligations on the part of the Tibetans, Colonel Younghusband was sent by the Indian Government with a military escort to the seat of Tibetan authority. For some little time he made peaceful progress, until, on arriving at Hot Springs, General Macdonald's force of 1,600 men, with 4 field and 2 Maxim guns, found it necessary to attack the Tibetans, and drove them out of their position. Then, when they had gathered round their Lhassa General, the political agent, Colonel Younghusband, together with Brigadier Macdonald, their staffs, and some Sikhs, went forward to parley with them, and despite the attitude of the Tibetans, the officers dismounted; some began to eat sandwiches, others to take photographs. Suddenly the Tibetans turned upon the ring of Sikhs which surrounded them; all was soon confusion, but the discipline of the Sikhs, and the coolness of the officers, saved the situation, and within ten minutes the flower of the Tibetan army was demolished, despite the grim determination of those composing it, for they disdained to run away, but solemnly marched off as the fight became too hot for them.
The medal for the Tibet Mission 1903-4 bears on the reverse the fortress-capped hill of Potala a Lhassa, with TIBET 1903-4 beneath it, and to those engaged in the mission about Gyantse a bar inscribed GYANTSE was awarded. The obverse is the same as the I.G.S. 1903 medal. The ribbon is dark red edged with green, with two white stripes. It is noteworthy that with this and the medal I shall next describe the old curled suspenders, as on the Sutlej medals, are used.
The Tibet Force comprised the Royal Fusiliers; a detachment of the Norfolks; a Mountain Battery of the R.A.; 8th Goorkas; 40th Pathans; Queen's Own Sappers and Miners, and the 6th Mule Corps.
I.G.S. 1908.—A new medal in place of the 1903 I.G.S., and destined to be known as the I.G.S. Medal 1908, was awarded by an Army Order in December 1908. It has a pictorial design on the reverse, somewhat similar to the above-mentioned medal, and reminding one of the old Ghuznee Medal. It was issued in 1910 to those who had been engaged on the North-West Frontier between February 14th and May 31st, 1908. The obverse bears the bust of King Edward VII in Field-Marshal's uniform, encircled with the legend EDWARDVS VII KAISAR-I-HIND. On the reverse is a fort on a hill-top backed by mountains, and beneath, forming the exergue, an ornamental tablet overlaid by olive and oak branches bearing the word INDIA. The bar bears NORTH-WEST FRONTIER 1908. This medal was designed by Mr. Richard Garbe, R.B.S. It was awarded to both the troops and followers, and was the last issued during the reign of Edward the Peacemaker. (See facing page [204].)
The regiments engaged in the campaign were: the Gordon and Seaforth Highlanders; Royal Irish Rifles and Royal Munster Fusiliers; the Northumberland Fusiliers and Warwickshire Regiment; 10th Hussars; 71st Company R.G.A.; 6 guns of the 18th and 80th Batteries R.F.A.; 62nd and 75th Batteries R.F.A.; 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 28th Mountain Batteries, and Nos. 1 and 7 British Field Hospital; 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Goorkas; 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th, 29th, 30th, and 33rd Punjabees; 15th, 23rd, 34th, 45th, 53rd, 54th, 55th, 57th, and 59th Sikhs; 40th Pathans; Queen's Own Corps of Guides Infantry; Cavalry of the Q.O. Guides; 21st Cavalry; 19th and 37th Lancers; Sappers and Miners, and 5 Native Field Hospitals.
Abor, 1911-12.—The massacre of Mr. Williamson and his party necessitated the dispatch of a punitive force, which under Major-General Hamilton Bower, C.B., entered the Abor country in October 1911, and for seven months, under the most trying physical difficulties, operations were pursued. "The paths were quite unfit for use by laden carriers," and progress was exceedingly slow, but as usual the regiments pressed on to their destination, and, after inflicting punishment on the culpable villagers who had been party to the massacre, captured and brought to trial those immediately responsible for the murders. An important result of the operations was the breaking down of the power of the Kebang-Rotung group of villages, and the freeing of the Lakhimpur districts north of the Brahmaputra from Abor aggression. For his services in this campaign General Bower was made K.C.B., and the following officers Companions of the D.S.O.: Majors James Davidson, M.D., James Alban Wilson, Edward G. Vaughan, Ernest H. Scott Cullen, M.V.O., and Lieutenant Miles A. Claude Kennedy.
Among the regiments taking part in the expedition were the 1st Batt. 8th Goorka Rifles, on whom the brunt of the fighting fell—medals of this regiment have realised from £2 10s. to £3 in the sale-room; 1st Co. (King George's Own) Sappers and Miners, to whose skill and energy "the success of the expedition was largely due"; 1st Batt. King Edward's Own Goorka Rifles; 32nd Sikh Pioneers, who did excellent work on the line of communications; dismounted detachment Assam Valley Light Horse; Supply and Transport Corps; Lakhimpur Military Police; 5 Nagar Carrier Corps.
The medal, although described as the India General Service Medal 1908, has on the reverse the crowned bust of King George V truncated by the edge of the medal, a spray of laurel covering the truncation, and the legend GEORGIVS V KAISAR-I-HIND on a raised band surrounding the effigy. This was given to those who served at or beyond Kobo between October 6th, 1911, and April 20th, 1912, both dates inclusive. The medals are engraved in a coarse kind of script—each letter being separate—or in a loose running hand. Officers and men already in possession of the India General Service Medal 1908 received the clasp only.