India General Service Medal (1854-1895), with bar for Hazara 1891, awarded to Pvt. J. Roberts, 1891
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.
The North-West Frontier, where British rule in India met Afghanistan, was guarded by a variety of arrangements, including accommodations with local potentates. Two such were the Khan of Agror and the Khan of Allai, both of whose capitals lie in modern Pakistan. Both rulers were commonly involved in intrigues against the British, often involving the Hassanzai, Akazai and Chagarzai tribes of the Black Mountain area of Hazara (also in modern Pakistan), whose raids resulted in British punitive expeditions against them in 1888, 1891 and 1892.
Participation in the 1891 campaign earnt this bar, which is here affixed to the medal of Private J. Roberts of the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Lester Watson purchased the medal from the London dealers Baldwin in 1927.