Medals

FIBIS resources

• Medals for Service in India. A talk given by Allan Stanistreet, FIBIS Member and Collector of Medals at the FIBIS meeting on 7 November 2009 is available to download or listen to. The podcast is the complete talk, but an extended version that includes the question and answer session at the end of the talk is available for FIBIS members only in the FIBIS Social Network

Military medals

See Medal Rolls for details of records of names of recipients, including those in the India Office Records.

Campaign medal list

List of campaign medals issued for British India related military actions.

Nb. Years given are the date the action occured, not the date the medal was first issued as in some cases this was decades later.

Year	Medal	Action associated with	Issued to
1790-92	Mysore Campaign Silver medal	Various battles from 3rd Mysore War	British & HEIC Armies
1795-96	Capture of Ceylon	Various battles from War against Dutch in Ceylon	British & HEIC Armies
1803 - 1826	Army of India Medal	Various battles from 2nd Maratha War, 3rd Maratha War, Gurkha War, 1st Burma War	British & HEIC Armies
1839	Ghuznee Medal	Battle of Ghazni 1839
1842	Candahar, Ghuznee, Cabul Medals	1st Afghan War - Battle of Ghazni 1842, Battle of Kabul Sept 1842	British & HEIC Armies
1842	Jellalabad Medal	End of the Siege of Jalalabad
1842	Defence of Kelat-i-Ghilzie medal	Siege of Khelat-i-Ghilzai	HEIC Army
1842	1st China War Medal	1st China War	British & HEIC Armies
1843	Scinde Medal	Sind Campaign	British & HEIC Armies
1843	Gwalior Star	Gwalior Campaign	British & HEIC Armies
1845/46	Sutlej Medal	1st Sikh War	British & HEIC Armies
1848/49	Punjab Medal	2nd Sikh War	British & HEIC Armies
1854 - 1895	India General Service Medal	Pegu, Persian War, Early NWF Actions, Ambela Campaign, Duar War, Lushai Exp., Perak War,	British & Indian Armies
		Jowaki Expedition, Naga Hills Exp., 3rd Burma War, Sikkim Exp., Black Mountain Exp. 1888,
		Chin Lushai, Black Mountain Exp. 1891, Manipur War, Hunza Nagar Campaign, Chin Lushai Exp.
		Chin Hills Exp., Kachin Hills 1892-93, Mahsud Expedition 1894-95
1857-58	Indian Mutiny Medal	Indian Mutiny	British & HEIC Armies and Royal Navy Sailors who fought with the Naval Brigade
1857-60	2nd China War Medal	2nd China War
1878-80	Afghanistan Medal	2nd Afghan War	British & Indian Armies
1880	Kabul to Kandahar Star	310 mile march with General Roberts (part of 2nd Afghan War)	British & Indian Armies
1882-89	Egypt Medal	Egyptian Campaign 1882	British & Indian Armies
1895 - 1902	India Medal	NWF Campaigns inc. Chitral Campaign, Malakand Field Expedition, Tirah Campaign, Tochi Valley Exp.	British & Indian Armies
1900	China War	3rd China War	British & Indian Armies
1903-4	Tibet Medal	Tibet Expedition	British & Indian Armies
1908 - 1935	India General Service Medal	Various NWF actions inc 3rd Afghan War, Waziristan Campaigns
1914-1915	WW1: 1914-15 Star	Issued to all British and Colonial forces who rendered service in the WW1 during 1914-15 on any front including in Mesopotamia.	All British and Colonial Forces.
1914-1920	WW1: British War Medal	Issued to all British and Colonial forces who rendered service in the WW1 including in Mesopotamia and NWF.	All British and Colonial Forces and Civilian Labourers.
1936 - 1939	India General Service Medal	Various NWF actions with clasps for North West Frontier 1936–37 and North West Frontier 1937–39
1939-45	WW2: India Service Medal	Awarded to the Indian Military Forces for 3 years of non-operational service in India, and is equivalent to the WW2 British Defence Medal.	British & Indian Armies
1941-45	WW2: Burma Star	Awarded for campaigns in Burma and Pacific arena with Pacific clasp.	British & Indian Armies, Royal Navy and Indian Navy.
1941-45	WW2: Pacific Star	Awarded for operational service in the Pacific Theatre between 8 December 1941 and 2 September 1945, and also for certain specified service in China, Hong-Kong, Malaya and Sumatra.	British & Indian Armies, Royal Navy and Indian Navy.

Non-campaign medals and awards

Medal name	Awarded between	Reason
Order of British India	1837 - 1947	Indian Army officers for long and faithful service
Delhi Durbar Medal	1911	Certain attendees of the Coronation Durbar for George V
Indian Distinguished Service Medal Illustration	1907 - 1947	Distinguished service (Indian soldiers/police)
Indian Order of Merit	1837 - 1947	Gallantry (Indian soldiers)
Order of British India	1837 - 1947	Long, faithful and honourable service (Officers)

See also:

• Victoria Cross
• Medals for volunteers
• The Orders and Medals Research Society

Good Conduct Badges In the British Army

Details about Good Conduct Badges in the British Army are available in this link and this link to the India List.

Civil medals and awards

Medal name	Awarded between	Reason
Order of the Star of India Illustration	1861 - 1947	For services to the Indian Empire
Kaisar-i-Hind medal	1900 - 1947	Civilians with distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the Raj
Order of the Crown of India	1878 - 1947	Women only - British princesses or the wives/relatives of Indian Royalty or those holding the top state offices.
Order of the Indian Empire	1878 - 1947	Reward for British and Indian officials

Temperance medals

• See Temperance organisations-Medals

External links

• British Campaign Medals Wikipedia
• Indian Army recipients of the VC Wikipedia
• Campaign Medals 1902-39 - www.king-emperor.com Medals issued to Indian Army Officers and Other Ranks
• Northeastmedals.co.uk
  • The Guide to British War Medals includes images of British Campaign and Gallantry medals, including many relating to India, including
    • India General Service Medal 1854-1895
    • The India Medal 1895
    • India General Service Medal 1908 with details of eligibility for the clasps "North West Frontier 1908" to "North West Frontier 1935" (twelve clasps in total)
    • India General Service Medal 1936-1939 with details of eligibility for the clasps "North West Frontier 1936-37" and "North West Frontier 1937-1939"
  • Medals of the Regiments. Contains information categorised by Regiment
• VWF Guide to Campaign Medals of the Victorian era. Includes medals for actions relating to India with images. Victorian Wars Forum
• British Medals Forum. Its website says "The objective of the British Medal Forum is to develop and further the interest, research and collecting of British and Commonwealth medals; researching their recipients; and assisting each other with specialist issues such as research, naming styles, clasp combinations, etc". It is necessary to register.
• The Orders and Medals Research Society including Medals Research FAQ
• Medal FAQs Ministry of Defence (U.K.)
• The Indian Order of Merit (1837-1947) by Edward S. Haynes (archived web page)
• First China War Medal, rejected issue proof piece, 1842 Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
• Details about the Hong Kong Plague Medal (1894) may be found in The K.S.L.I. and the Hong Kong Plague, 1894. discovershropshire.org.uk and page lvii of the Introduction of Mayo's book, refer below.
• "Gold and silver medals of the Honourable East India Company" by Charles Winter. The British Numismatic Journal Volume 17 (1923-24), 281-87. pdf version, html version These are medals issued to native troops.
• "The Army of India Medal" by Charles Winter. The British Numismatic Journal Volume 18 (1925-26), 165-72. pdf version, html version
• "War medals issued for services in India, 1852-1924, also the first and second issue of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire" by Charles Winter. The British Numismatic Journal Volume 20 (1929-30), 271-77. pdf version, html version
• 1914-1915 Star including eligibility criteria. Includes some actions in India (scroll down) northeastmedals.co.uk
• The British War Medal 1914-1920 Includes eligibility and images of the medals. northeastmedals.co.uk.
• Great War Forum thread, includes image of bronze British War Medal awarded to "Native" Labourers including various Indian Labour Corps Units. (Image only available to logged in members of GWF)
• Eligibility criteria for the Victory Medal 1914 - 1919 includes the actions in India which are regarded as theatres of war (Scroll down) Peter Ghiringhelli's British Gallantry, Orders, Decorations, and Campaign ribbons
• The MacGregor Medal (Wikipedia) is awarded to Indian Armed Forces personnel for valuable military reconnaissance. History of the MacGregor Medals (1889-1989) by Major Robert Hamond (Retd) c 1994 is available to buy from the United Service Institution of India. It is also available at the British Library
• Indian Princely Medals : a record of the orders, decorations and medals of the Indian Princely States by Tony McClenaghan, Lancer Publishers 1996 is in the collection of the British Library and the National Army Museum
• Awards of the Indian "Princely States", pre-1947 omsa.org
• East and Central Africa Medal 1897-99 with clasp: Uganda 1897-98, awarded to Sepoy Ahmad Khan, 27th (1st Baluch Battalion), Regiment of Bombay Light Infantry. The 27th (1st Baluch Battalion), Regiment of Bombay Light Infantry were one of three Indian Army regiments that took part in the suppression of a mutiny by the Sudanese troops used by the Colonial Government in Uganda. National Army Museum
• A Guide to British and Commonwealth Medals of WW2 military-research.uk
• Medals: campaigns, descriptions and eligibility Ministry of Defence. Includes WW2 medals.
• The Ministry of Defence Medal Office Ministry of Defence. Includes instructions for application for unclaimed WW2 medals. For details of WW2 Index Medal Cards held by the Medal Office, see Second World War-Medals

Historical books online

• Medals of the British Army and how they were won. Volume 3 India, China etc by Thomas Carter. 1861 Google Books
• War Medals of the British Army, and how they were won by Thomas Carter and W. H. Long. "Revised, enlarged and continued to the present time" 1893 Archive.org
• British military & naval medals and decorations. A new edition - arranged alphabetically by J. Harris Gibson 1880 Archive.org
• Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy With numerous coloured plates and illustrations by John Horsley Mayo 1897 Volume 1 Volume 2 Contents List of Medals Archive.org
• The ABC of war medals and decorations being the history of the manner in which they were won, and a complete record of their award, their characteristics, how they are named and how they are counterfeited 2nd edition by W. Augustus Steward 1918 (originally published 1915) Archive.org Contents
• The Medal Collector: A Guide to Naval, Military, Air-Force, and Civil Medals and Ribbons by Stanley C Johnson 1921 Archive.org. Includes Indian medals.