IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 141333 accession number: CM.1239-2009 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Monday 15 January 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: The numerous campaigns of the forces of the British East India Company were not officially recognised with a medal until 1851, in the same move as that which created the Military and Naval General Service Medals for service in the contemporary French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The resulting Army of India medal covered battles from 1799 to 1826 in a theatre where many subsequent conflicts had arisen, so many of those involved were no longer living. Queen Victoria, by whose order the medal was issued and whose bust it therefore carried, was likewise not on the throne for the actions for which it was awarded. The bar for Bhurtpoor relates to a siege of the city of Bharatpur, capital of the Jat Empire. In 1825 the Rajah of Bharatpoor had died, and his infant son been imprisoned by a cousin who then took the throne. British forces were therefore sent to capture the legendarily-impregnable city, which they did at length by mining in January 1826. The infant Rajah was restored, but the ramparts of his city were levelled. Awarded the medal for this campaign was Private J. Andrews of the 11th Light Dragoons, whose medal this is. Lester Watson purchased it from the dealer Gifford at some point before 1928. title: Army of India Medal NOTES ----- type: history note value: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Gifford before 1928 LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Coins and Medals collection: Lester Watson Collection creditline: Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009 STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/141333 TECHNIQUES ---------- struck CATEGORIES ------ category: medal DATING ------ creation date: 1851 - 1851 creation date earliest: 1851 creation date latest: 1851 CREATORS -------- maker: London maker: East India Company maker: Wyon, William maker: Victoria (1837-1901) maker: Victoria regina DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Diameter units: mm value: 36 dimension: Weight units: g value: 38.48 CITATIONS -------- British Battles and Medals 7th edn British and other Campaign and Gallantry Medals From the Collection of Lester Watson (d. 1959) --- IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 148 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 148 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 148 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_281_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 148 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 144 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 144 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 144 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0122_282_29.jpg height: 365 pixels width: 144 pixels