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Mint:
Calcutta
Ruler:
Shuja al-Mulk (1803-9, 1839-42)
Issuer:
East India Company
Ruler:
Victoria (1837-1901)
The First Anglo-Afghan War was brought about, against a background of British desire to control this troublesome area on the Indian North-West Frontier, by the campaign of the exiled Shah Shujah al-Mulk, to oust his brother Mahmud from the Afghan throne (something which he had done in 1803 in order to succeed in the first place).
After an unsuccessful attempt in 1833 backed by the ruler of the Punjab, Shujah managed to add British support for a campaign of 1839 and was thereby restored, although he was assassinated almost as soon as the British left the country, provoking a return to conflict for which other medals were awarded.
The most difficult part of the campaign was the capture of the fortress in the mountain pass of Ghazni, and for participation in this battle Shah Shujah had a medal stuck at Calcutta. He was dead before it could be issued, but Queen Victoria and the East India Company allowed it to be awarded through the usual channels anyway.
This medal was awarded to Captain Lawrence Fyler of the 16th Lancers, whose medal group has come entire into the Watson Collection and shows a career spent in India and the East fighting for the Crown from the 1830s to the 1850s.
This medal is attached to two others and the catalogue of the Watson Collection considers it as part of Group 8 (this comprising two assemblages and two loose medals). For provenance of the group see those entries.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection. bt Seaby 1929. Left to James Fyler (nephew) on recipient's death 1873.
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 37.2 mm
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
Production date: AD 1839
Inscription present: Fortress
Inscription present: Recipient's name above mural crown, with laurel branches around
Accession number: CM.1508-2009
Primary reference Number: 141607
Watson Catalogue: 132
Ordering: M-0396
Previous object number: LW.0366d1
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) "Ghuznee Medal" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141607 Accessed: 2024-11-05 07:53:07
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141607
|title=Ghuznee Medal
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 07:53:07|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-141607
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_0366d1_281_29.jpg"
alt="Ghuznee Medal"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Ghuznee Medal</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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