MEDAL FOR SECOND CHINESE WAR.
Twenty-eight bars were authorised. Twenty-one for the Peninsular, three for North America, two for services in the West Indies, one for Italy, and one for Egypt, 1801, "to those who were still alive." The bars, it should be noted, vary in their arrangement, some being farther apart than others, those awarded to the cavalry being very close together, and those to the infantry 3∕40 in. apart. If more than six are attached they are placed quite close like those for the cavalry. The bars are attached in sets of three, so that no rivets were used in the fixing of two or three bars to a medal, the set being struck in one piece; six, nine, or more bars were riveted together with very neat, small-headed rivets.
The India Medal, 1799-1826.—The European veterans of the Indian wars had been as badly treated in the way of war decorations as the heroes of the Peninsular, but an effort to reward the survivors was made public by the announcement on April 14th, 1851—forty-eight years after the first battle, for which a bar was issued, was fought—that the Queen had assented to the measure proposed by the Court of Directors of the East India Company to grant a medal at their expense to the surviving officers and soldiers of the Crown who were engaged in the services in India from 1799 to 1826. On the obverse is the diademed head of Queen Victoria with VICTORIA REGINA similar to that on the obverse of the medals already described, and on the reverse a seated figure of Victory, holding in her left hand, which falls by her side, a chaplet of laurel, and in her right hand an olive branch. In the background is a palm tree, and in front a trophy of oriental arms. Above all is inscribed TO THE ARMY OF INDIA, and in the exergue 1790-1826 and W.W., the initials of the medallist, in small capitals. The medal is 1⅖ in. in diameter, attached to a scroll suspender as used with the Punjab and Sutlej medals; the bars are also of the same design. The ribbon of pale-blue corded silk is 1¼ in. wide. The names, etc., of the European recipients were impressed in capital Roman letters, but most of those awarded to native officers and soldiers were officially engraved in a light, slanting script.
Bars Awarded.—Twenty-one bars were issued with the medal: ALLIGHUR, DELHI, ASSYE, ASSEERGHUR, LASWARREE, ARGAUM, GAWILGHUR, DEFENCE OF DELHI, DEIG, CAPTURE OF DEIG, NEPAUL, KIRKEE, POONA, KIRKEE AND POONA, SEETABULDEE, NAGPORE, SEETABULDEE AND NAGPORE, MAHEIDPOOR, CORYGAUM, AVA, BHURTPOOR. Only four medals were issued with the single bar for Seetabuldee and Nagpore, and one of these with edge impressed and verification of award to a man of the 39th Native Infantry realised £74 at auction. Nineteen only were issued for Assye, thirteen for Gawilghur, twenty-six for Maheidpoor, forty-eight for Laswarree, seventy-nine for Corygaum, but only a few of any of these to Europeans. The Duke of Wellington's medal had three clasps; for ASSYE, ARGAUM, and GAWILGHUR. Only thirteen with this combination were issued. A single bar for Capture of Deig awarded to a Lieutenant-Colonel has realised £50. An officer's four bar has realised £100, and a five bar £150. (See sales prices.)
FIRST KAFFIR WARS
In 1834-5 the Kaffirs in South Africa became very troublesome and necessitated the employment of armed force to subdue them, but the first serious Kaffir war broke out in 1846 owing to the outrages perpetrated by the Gaikas, and considerable fighting had to be done before the Kaffirs, by this time armed with firearms, were subdued, and Sandilli and his brother surrendered. In this campaign the following regiments were represented: 6th, 27th, 45th, 73rd, 90th, 91st, and 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade; 7th Dragoon Guards; Royal Artillery; Engineers, Sappers and Miners, also Cape Mounted Riflemen.
At the end of the year 1850 the Kaffirs were again in a turbulent condition, and Sir Harry Smith, a Peninsular veteran whose record in India I have indicated, summoned the chiefs to meet him, but Sandilli ignored the invitation and was outlawed. Then began another protracted war with the natives, during which several disasters befell the British troops. In the Keiskamma defile misfortune overtook Colonel Mackinnon, where with a force of 600 men, which included detachments of the 6th and 73rd Regiments, he was ambuscaded. He, however, reached Fort Cox, where the Governor, Sir Harry Smith, was surrounded by the dusky hordes. He managed to get away with a flying escort, and safely reached King William's Town. In June 1851 operations were conducted in the Amatola and Wolf Valley with comparatively severe losses to the British troops. In December the passage of the Kei was effected, despite the enemy's ingenious attempt—a new method in warfare to them—at constructing breastworks. Ultimately the chiefs of the Gaikas and Seyolo requested peace upon terms which could not be conceded, and the war was continued. In the spring of 1852 a determined advance was made by the British against Sandilli's stronghold in the Amatola mountains, from whence the 74th Highland Regiment, the "tortoises" as the Kaffirs called them in allusion to the markings of their kilt, after much hard fighting cleared them out. Sir Harry Smith was relieved of his command at the Cape by Sir George Cathcart, and ultimately the Water Kloof was cleared, and the Basutos under Moshesh defeated at Berea; Sandilli again surrendered, and the recalcitrant natives were expelled from the territory they had previously occupied.