India General Service Medal (1854-1895), with bar for Perak, awarded to Drummer G. Mick, 1876
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 city of Perak, in modern-day Malaysia, in 1874 came under the rule of Sultan Raja Abdullah, who had succeeded with British military aid against a rival, Raja Ismail, backed by Chinese interests. The Treaty of Pangkor that established Abdullah also emplaced a British Resident in Perak who took over governmental duties, but this man, Sir James Birch, was murdered in Upper Perak because of his rather unsympathetic reforms. The ousted Sultan, Raja Ismail, became the head of the following uprising and a British expedition to put down what was in danger of becoming a revolution was sent, heavily supported by the Navy, in late 1875.
This bar was awarded for participation in that campaign, and is here affixed to the medal of Drummer G. Mick, of the 1st Battalion, 10th Foot. Lester Watson acquired the medal at some point before 1928.