Obverse, the head of King George V facing left |
Reverse, Britannia with trident standing at the centre and placing a wreath on the hilt of a winged sword to the left |
The General Service Medal was instituted in 1918 for the Army and Royal Air Force to match that of 1915 for the Navy; it was to be awarded for operations in areas not covered by the existent Africa and India General Service Medals. It was issued intil 1962.
The second bar awarded was this one, for Kurdistan; it covered operations in the north of British-held Iraq after the Great War. The original award was extended in 1924 to cover operations against a Kurdish chief by the name of Shaikh Mahmud who had taken over the fort of Sulaymaniyah with assistance from Turkish forces at Rowanduz.
It was likely for participation in this operation that this medal was awarded, to Sapper Dasappa of the Madras Sappers and Miners. He probably served in the 63rd Company, which was in the Koicol column that went to Sulaymaniyah. Lester Watson purchased the medal from the London dealers Baldwin at some point before 1928.