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 first campaign for which this medal was awarded was the renewal of conflict between British India and the Burmese kingdom of Ava, after points of dispute over the Treaty of Yandaboo that had ended the First Anglo-Burmese War flared into open conflict, despite Burmese efforts at conciliation. A rapid naval campaign ensued and British forces annexed the Burmese province of Pegu, which became British Lower Burma. King Pagin Min of Ava, who did not recognise the annexation, was nonetheless powerless to prevent it, and this led to his deposition and replacement by his half-brother Mindon Min.
This medal was awarded to Brigadier George Warren who commanded the 1st Bengal Brigade; the medal's award to him has been verified. Brigadier Warren's medal group has come as one into the Watson Collection and the Catalogue considers them as Group 9, but as the pieces are not physically attached they are treated separately here. Lester Watson purchased them as a group from the London dealers Baldwin in 1931.