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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.
Despite supporting the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, Baji Rao II, against his malcontents in the Second Anglo-Maratha War of 1803, British forces invaded the Empire in 1817 with the declared aim of punishing Pindari border raiders, and Baji Rao was rapidly forced to flight. His various subordinate kings however resisted the British independently, among them being Mudhoji II Bhonsle of Nagpur, who had succeeded in a coup in 1816. Facing not only British forces but those of the wealthy Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad, his army was defeated at Sitabuldi near the capital of Nagpur, and extensive territorial concessions forced from him. He was deposed soon afterwards, and a British Resident installed to oversee the rule of his infant successor. Nagpur was finally subsumed into the British Central Provinces in 1853.
This medal was awarded to Naick Balloo of the 27th Native Infantry. Lester Watson purchased it in an auction in November 1926.
History note: Goft of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt `Auction 11/1926'
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 36 mm
Weight: 38.74 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.1246-2009
Primary reference Number: 141340
Watson Catalogue: 145
Ordering: M-0129
Previous object number: LW.0129
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/141340 Accessed: 2024-11-08 13:47:08
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141340
|title=Army of India Medal
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-08 13:47:08|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-141340
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_0129_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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