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Mint:
London
Issuer:
East India Company
Artist:
Wyon, William
Ruler:
Victoria (1837-1901)
Ruler:
Victoria regina
(With the title of)
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 Maratha Empire, a Hindu confederacy which began in 1674, had in 1796 fallen into the hands of the Peshwa ruler Baji Rao II. Repeated rebellions against his authority led him to seek help from the British, who used the opportunity to extract considerable territorial concessions. Raiding by Pindari tribesmen which resulted from this became the cause for a new war, and in 1817 British forces set out to arrest Baji Rao. The subsequent chase involved pitched battles at Kirkee and Poona in November 1817, and Baji Rao was eventually captured in 1818, and exiled on a considerable British pension which he lived to enjoy for 33 more years.
This medal is engraved to Captain J. Ford, Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, although his name is not on the Roll of those awarded the medal. Lester Watson purchased it from the dealer Gifford in 1927.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt Gifford 1927
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36 mm
Weight: 35.26 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
Production date: AD 1851
Inscription present: Bust of Victoria facing left
Inscription present: Victory seated facing left before palm and war spoils, holding laurel branch and wreath
Accession number: CM.1241-2009
Primary reference Number: 141335
Watson Catalogue: 140
Ordering: M-0124
Previous object number: LW.0124
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Army of India Medal" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141335 Accessed: 2024-12-22 09:05:08
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141335
|title=Army of India Medal
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 09:05:08|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-141335
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0124_281_29.jpg"
alt="Army of India Medal"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Army of India Medal</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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