India General Service Medal (1854-1895), with bar for Burma 1889-92, awarded to Pvt. J. Martin, 1892
Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria |
Reverse, Victory crowning a seated Classical warrior with a laurel wreath |
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Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria |
Reverse, Victory crowning a seated Classical warrior with a laurel wreath |
The Army of India Medal's issue in 1849 having marked the previous half-century's combats in the region, further conflicts in the 1850s led in 1854 to the design and issue of a General Service Medal for the theatre, for which bars would be issued as each new campaign merited.
British annexation of the Burmese kingdom of Ava in 1879 was so rapid that as the capital fell many of the Burmese forces were only just massing. In the absence of leadership these troops took to the country to mount guerilla campaigns against the new occupiers. British campaigns against such insurgents continued until 1892, and bars were awarded to the India General Service Medal for them in 1889 and 1892.
The latter bar covered eleven separate punitive expeditions, in one or several of which must have taken part Private J. Martin of the Devon Regiment, to whom this medal was awarded. Lester Watson purchased it from the London dealers Baldwin in 1927.