Single Campaign Medals 867
The interesting, unusual and well-documented Indian Mutiny Medal awarded to Mr James Burton, Volunteer Cavalry, a member of the ill-fated Burton family of Kotah, Rajasthan; despite being a civilian, he was Mentioned in a General Order for his part in the defence of Neemuch Fort in November 1857; later, he succeeded in identifying and tracking down some of the ringleaders responsible for the murder of his father and two of his younger brothers; Government took more than five years to issue his medal
Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Mr James Burton.), together with another, also no clasp, but renamed in contemporary engraved serif capitals (James E. Burton, Volunteer Cavalry) good very fine
£1,600-£2,000
Provenance: Norman W. Collet; Tim Ash Collection 1985. For more details on provenance and research, see Indian Mutiny 1857-59 Mr James Burton – an Enigma? by Captain T. Ash M.B.E., OMRS Journal June 2011, pp 82-87, and The Great Uprising in India, Untold Stories. Chapter Two: The Kotah Residency Murders by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, 2007, pp 66-95.
James Edmond Burton was born in Fort William, Calcutta on 20 November 1834 and was baptised in his father’s quarters in the Ramparts Barracks. He was the second son of Charles Aeneas Burton, a young Ensign of the 40th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, and his wife Elizabeth, who had nine children in quick succession, three of whom died in India during their childhood. Both James’s father and his grandfather had served as officers in the Bengal Native Infantry. When the Indian Mutiny broke out in May 1857, James was 22. His father (now 47) was a Brevet Major who, since 1845, had been Resident and Political Agent for the Rajput Princely State of Kotah, about 150 kilometres from Jaipur.
The striking architecture, romantic hill forts and labyrinthine walled cities of the Rajput States perfectly complemented the rugged landscape, but the region was arid, lacked natural resources and offered few lucrative commercial opportunities that foreigners could exploit. As a consequence, a mutual tolerance developed between the majority of the Rajput rulers and the East India Company. This tolerance depended on mutual non-interference. Few Europeans settled in Rajputana, but those who did tended to stay for many years. James Burton lived with his parents, brothers and teenage sister in the Kotah ‘Agency Bungalow’, which had been built by the East India Company in an imposing compound beside the Chambai river, just outside the perimeter walls of Kotah city. It was a substantial two- storied Residency, which the Burton family had occupied for over ten years. The children had grown up there.
James’s elder brother, Charles William Burton (aged 23), had recently entered the Bengal (Uncovenanted) Civil Service as an Assistant Superintendent at Neemuch, 150 kilometres south-west of Kotah. Neemuch, also known as Nimach, contained a large military cantonment and garrison, the base for three regiments of the Bengal Army. Major Burton had a house there, for the benefit of Charles William and probably in due course some of the other Burton boys, as they seemed destined also to join the Bengal Civil Service alongside Charles William.
Under the treaty between the Maharao of Kotah and the H.E.I.C., the Maharao undertook to recruit, pay and train in the European style a Contingent of several thousand soldiers. which could be summoned to serve elsewhere in India as part of the H.E.I.C.’s forces. The Kotah Contingent was a separate entity from two other forces belonging to the Maharao - the Royal Bodyguard and the Kotah State Army. The Indian Mutiny began in Meerut on 10 May 1857, and soon afterwards the Maharao was requested to send his Contingent to Agra (over 800 kilometres away) to fight the mutineers.
As an experienced soldier, Major Burton was well aware that, due to the sudden emergency of the rebellion, he could at any time be ordered to some other place in India, and might be absent from Kotah for an indefinite period. He moved his family from the Kotah Residency to the Burton house in Neemuch cantonment, where there were many other Europeans who would normally be able to ensure their safety and well-being. Then he left, travelling to the cantonment at Deoli, where 3,000 men of the Kotah Contingent were based, as it was his responsibility to make sure that those going to Agra set out promptly and in good order. (Once the Contingent arrived at Agra, it briefly stayed loyal, but when the British ordered an attack on other mutineers converging on Delhi, the entire Kotah Contingent - except for 40 men - joined the Uprising on 4 July.)
Meanwhile, in Neemuch, as Mrs Burton related in a letter to her brother in England: “Reports of coming danger and mutiny among the three regiments here began to spread, fires at night took place, false alarms were constantly raised, the natives fled from the bazaars, and a repetition of the horrors of Meerut and Delhi was hourly expected.” On 3 June 1857, all three of the Bengal regiments stationed at Neemuch mutinied. The Burton family and some friends fled on horses and camels over ten kilometres to the fort at Jewud [Jawad], which was the area for which Charles William Burton was Assistant Superintendent. The five brothers took turns to stand guard and protect the fugitives.
The same alarming reports had reached Major Burton even before the mutiny at Neemuch took place. He put together a strong escort from those troops at Deoli cantonment who had not left for Agra, rode out and arrived at Jewud fort late on 4 June. The Neemuch mutineers put a price of Rs 1,000 on his head and Rs 500 on those of each of his sons. His troops stayed loyal and Major Burton was able to bring the European refugees back to Neemuch cantonment. They found it deserted, as the mutinous Bengal army regiments had left to march on Delhi. The civil lines, the Treasury, the Jail and the Bazaar had been thoroughly ransacked, vandalised and looted, and many buildings set ablaze.
Mrs Burton reported: “Our own servants assisted in the plunder and they loaded four of our horses to carry away the most valuable part of our property… we are not yet out of danger. It hangs over every white face in this portion of unhappy India.” The summer months were spent repairing the damage done to the cantonment buildings and preparing fortifications in case of an attack by rebels. Loyal troops from the Bombay Presidency arrived at Neemuch on 18 July to replace the departed Bengal regiments. Major Burton was superceded as de facto commander of the local military forces and Political Agent for the Neemuch area. He found many of the British officers in charge of the Bombay regiments to be disagreeable, and they often quarrelled with him.
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