India General Service Medal (1854-1895), with bar for N. E. Frontier 1891, awarded to Pvt. F. Williams, 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.
Manipur is one of the more remote states of modern India, and in the late nineteenth century relied on British protection against Burmese aggression. Because of this, when a succession crisis flared there in 1886, the Chief Commissioner for Assam attempted to intervene in force; this succeeded in arranging negotiations, but he and his party did not return from the meeting. A British withdrawal was shortly followed by a larger punitive expedition, which found only the embassy's heads but was able to capture all but one side of the succession quarrel and execute or exile the others for the murders. The state was soon after annexed to British India.
This medal was awarded to Private F. Williams, of the 4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, for his participation in this campaign. Lester Watson purchased the medal at some point before 1928.