SINGLE CAMPAIGN MEDALS
117
INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Relief of Chitral 1895, Punjab
Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (2733 Pte. A. Walker, 1st Bn. Gord.
Highrs.), the last two clasps attached by ring rivets, polished, thus
nearly very fine £350-400
Albert Walker was wounded during the storming of the Dargai Heights on 18
October 1897, when he received a gunshot wound in his back; sold with roll
verification for the “Relief of Chitral 1895” clasp.
118
The Malakand campaign medal to Gunner W. Bull, 34th Field Battery, Royal Artillery, one of only 25 Imperial officers
and men present at the defence of Malakand in 1897
INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Malakand 1897, Tirah 1897-98 (70142 Gunner W.
Bull, 34th F.B. R.A.) good very fine and very rare £600-800
Gunner W. Bull was present at the defence of Malakand, attached to the Government Telegraph Department. The total of Imperial
troops present at Malakand amounted to just eleven officers and 14 N.C.Os and men. With copy of the medal roll confirming clasps.
119
INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897, Tirah 1897-98 (4264 Pte. G. Burton,
1st Bn. North’n. Regt.) nearly extremely fine £600-700
Private George Burton, 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, was dangerously wounded at Saran Sar, 9 November 1897, suffering
gunshot wounds to his head and right wrist. Shortly after, he died of his wounds.
After participating in the Samana expedition, the Northamptons marched with the 2nd Division of the Tirah Field Force, entering the
Afridi Tirah on 31 October 1897. On 9 November, the battalion formed part of a reconnaissance in force to the crest of the Saran Sar,
under the command of Brigadier-General Westmacott. In his subsequent despatch, General Sir W. S. A. Lockhart reported:
‘During the advance but few of the enemy showed themselves, but in the retirement, which began at 2 p.m., the Northamptonshire
Regiment forming the rear-guard was closely pressed. Its movement from the crest into the valley, which was much delayed by the
steepness of the descent and by the number of wounded men who had to be carried by their comrades, was covered by the guns, the
flanks being held by the two Sikh regiments [15th & 36th]. Eventually a portion of the Northamptonshire Regiment became entangled
in a deep ravine, where they were fired into at close quarters by the tribesmen. The 36th Sikhs were sent back to extricate them, but
evening was coming on, and before assistance could be rendered a party consisting of an officer and 12 men was cut off and shot
down. Had the battalion kept to the high ground where its flanks were protected by the two Sikh regiments, its loss would probably
have been small; but unfortunately a route was chosen which offered every tactical advantage to the enemy, the result being that some
of our troops became isolated, and were then attacked in overwhelming numbers.’
Immediately on hearing of the serious nature of the incident, Sir William Lockhart at once ordered a military court of enquiry into what
formed one of the saddest incidents in the Tirah Expedition. ‘They sold their lives dearly,’ said one contemporary account, ‘and,
surrounded by a pitiless foe, they fought with undaunted courage to the end. When a force went out next morning the bodies of the
boy officer and the whole of the party were found together. They bore testimony to the severity of the unequal struggle. Poor MacIntyre
had two bullet wounds, one through the head and the other through the arm. Not a man of the little band but had one or more bullet
wounds, many having been shot through the head. The bodies had been stripped, and many of them had been hacked about with
swords; but feelings of relief possessed all when it was found that there had been no mutilation of the horrible character elsewhere
practised by our frontier foe. It was a sad, a heart-rending spectacle.’
120
INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897, Tirah 1897-98 (95534 Gr. T. Kinder, 9
M.B. R.A.) suspension slack, very fine £200-250
121
The Samana campaign medal to Lieut. A.K. Blair, 36th Sikhs, dangerously wounded during the defence of Ft. Gulistan
INDIA GENERAL SERVICE 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897, Tirah 1897-98 (Lieut. A. K. Blair, 36th
Sikhs) polished, therefore nearly very fine £700-800
Arthur Kennedy Blair was born on 1 March 1868, son of Charles Renny Blair, Bombay Infantry, and grandson of Captain Edward
Macleod, 5th Bengal Light Cavalry, who fell in the retreat from Cabul in 1842. He was first commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the
2nd Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, on 24 April 1889, and transferred to the 1st Battalion in February 1890, which he joined in
India the following April. In July 1891, he was appointed an Officiating Wing Officer in the 4th Bengal Infantry, and the following
month transferred, in the same position, to the 36th Bengal Infantry (Sikhs).
In July 1897, he was appointed a Wing Officer, and at the same time became Quartermaster of the regiment. He was with the 36th
Sikhs on the Samana Range when the Frontier outbreak of 1897 took place, and was actively engaged in the operations which ensued
on the Afridis and Urakzais making their combined attack on the posts on the range, particularly in the defence of Gulistan, in a
reconnaissance near which place on the 27th August he was dangerously wounded with a shot through the lungs. Though still suffering
from his wound he went forward with his regiment on the inauguration of the Tirah Expedition, but his health was too seriously
impaired to admit of his then entering on a fresh campaign, and after a few days had elapsed he had to turn back and go home on
furlough (India Medal and three clasps). He returned to India in October 1898, and having rejoined his regiment at Rawalpindi, he
officiated as Adjutant during the greater part of the succeeding year. Towards the end of 1899 he was detached to the Bombay
Presidency on famine relief duty, and while thus employed he died at Mayni, in the Satara district, on the 29th July 1900.
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