Part 24

=Tibet, 1903-4.=--Owing to the non-fulfilment of treaty obligations on the part of the Tibetans, Colonel Younghusband was sent by the Indian Government with a military escort to the seat of Tibetan authority. For some little time he made peaceful progress, until, on arriving at Hot Springs, General Macdonald's force of 1,600 men, with 4 field and 2 Maxim guns, found it necessary to attack the Tibetans, and drove them out of their position. Then, when they had gathered round their Lhassa General, the political agent, Colonel Younghusband, together with Brigadier Macdonald, their staffs, and some Sikhs, went forward to parley with them, and despite the attitude of the Tibetans, the officers dismounted; some began to eat sandwiches, others to take photographs. Suddenly the Tibetans turned upon the ring of Sikhs which surrounded them; all was soon confusion, but the discipline of the Sikhs, and the coolness of the officers, saved the situation, and within ten minutes the flower of the Tibetan army was demolished, despite the grim determination of those composing it, for they disdained to run away, but solemnly marched off as the fight became too hot for them.

The medal for the Tibet Mission 1903-4 bears on the reverse the fortress-capped hill of Potala a Lhassa, with TIBET 1903-4 beneath it, and to those engaged in the mission about Gyantse a bar inscribed GYANTSE was awarded. The obverse is the same as the I.G.S. 1903 medal. The ribbon is dark red edged with green, with two white stripes. It is noteworthy that with this and the medal I shall next describe the old curled suspenders, as on the Sutlej medals, are used.

The Tibet Force comprised the Royal Fusiliers; a detachment of the Norfolks; a Mountain Battery of the R.A.; 8th Goorkas; 40th Pathans; Queen's Own Sappers and Miners, and the 6th Mule Corps.

=I.G.S. 1908.=--A new medal in place of the 1903 I.G.S., and destined to be known as the I.G.S. Medal 1908, was awarded by an Army Order in December 1908. It has a pictorial design on the reverse, somewhat similar to the above-mentioned medal, and reminding one of the old Ghuznee Medal. It was issued in 1910 to those who had been engaged on the North-West Frontier between February 14th and May 31st, 1908. The obverse bears the bust of King Edward VII in Field-Marshal's uniform, encircled with the legend EDWARDVS VII KAISAR-I-HIND. On the reverse is a fort on a hill-top backed by mountains, and beneath, forming the exergue, an ornamental tablet overlaid by olive and oak branches bearing the word INDIA. The bar bears NORTH-WEST FRONTIER 1908. This medal was designed by Mr. Richard Garbe, R.B.S. It was awarded to both the troops and followers, and was the last issued during the reign of Edward the Peacemaker. (See facing page 204.)

The regiments engaged in the campaign were: the Gordon and Seaforth Highlanders; Royal Irish Rifles and Royal Munster Fusiliers; the Northumberland Fusiliers and Warwickshire Regiment; 10th Hussars; 71st Company R.G.A.; 6 guns of the 18th and 80th Batteries R.F.A.; 62nd and 75th Batteries R.F.A.; 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 28th Mountain Batteries, and Nos. 1 and 7 British Field Hospital; 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th Goorkas; 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, 28th, 29th, 30th, and 33rd Punjabees; 15th, 23rd, 34th, 45th, 53rd, 54th, 55th, 57th, and 59th Sikhs; 40th Pathans; Queen's Own Corps of Guides Infantry; Cavalry of the Q.O. Guides; 21st Cavalry; 19th and 37th Lancers; Sappers and Miners, and 5 Native Field Hospitals.

=Abor, 1911-12.=--The massacre of Mr. Williamson and his party necessitated the dispatch of a punitive force, which under Major-General Hamilton Bower, C.B., entered the Abor country in October 1911, and for seven months, under the most trying physical difficulties, operations were pursued. "The paths were quite unfit for use by laden carriers," and progress was exceedingly slow, but as usual the regiments pressed on to their destination, and, after inflicting punishment on the culpable villagers who had been party to the massacre, captured and brought to trial those immediately responsible for the murders. An important result of the operations was the breaking down of the power of the Kebang-Rotung group of villages, and the freeing of the Lakhimpur districts north of the Brahmaputra from Abor aggression. For his services in this campaign General Bower was made K.C.B., and the following officers Companions of the D.S.O.: Majors James Davidson, M.D., James Alban Wilson, Edward G. Vaughan, Ernest H. Scott Cullen, M.V.O., and Lieutenant Miles A. Claude Kennedy.

Among the regiments taking part in the expedition were the 1st Batt. 8th Goorka Rifles, on whom the brunt of the fighting fell--medals of this regiment have realised from £2 10_s._ to £3 in the sale-room; 1st Co. (King George's Own) Sappers and Miners, to whose skill and energy "the success of the expedition was largely due"; 1st Batt. King Edward's Own Goorka Rifles; 32nd Sikh Pioneers, who did excellent work on the line of communications; dismounted detachment Assam Valley Light Horse; Supply and Transport Corps; Lakhimpur Military Police; 5 Nagar Carrier Corps.

The medal, although described as the India General Service Medal 1908, has on the reverse the crowned bust of King George V truncated by the edge of the medal, a spray of laurel covering the truncation, and the legend GEORGIVS V KAISAR-I-HIND on a raised band surrounding the effigy. This was given to those who served at or beyond Kobo between October 6th, 1911, and April 20th, 1912, both dates inclusive. The medals are engraved in a coarse kind of script--each letter being separate--or in a loose running hand. Officers and men already in possession of the India General Service Medal 1908 received the clasp only.

SUDAN, 1910

By a Special Army Order, dated from Headquarters, Khartoum, June 12th, 1911, His Highness the Khedive approved of a new medal being struck to commemorate military operations in the Atwot district and granted to the troops (including Government police and Jehadia) who took part in the operations under the command of El Kaimakam W. J. St. J. Harvey Bey, against the Atwot Dinkas in the Atwot district of the Bahr el-Ghazal Province. The medal in silver was granted to all troops who formed part of the columns operating in the district between February 9th and March 17th, 1910, both dates inclusive, or who were disembarked at Sheikh Tombe, Aliah district, Mongalla province, between March 29th and April 4th, 1910, both dates inclusive.

=Atwot.=--The bar inscribed ATWOT in English and Arabic was granted to all troops taking part, and the following non-combatants were entitled to the medal and bar in silver, who participated under the same conditions as the troops: Government Civil employees; engineers of steamers; Raises of steamers; Sheikhs; Armed Guides; whilst non-combatants, _i.e._ Civilian Syces of Officers, Civilian Servants of Officers, and Transport Drivers, were granted the medal in bronze without bar.

=South Kordofan.=--To those who took part in the operations in Southern Kordofan under the command of El Lewa Asser Pasha, against Jebel Tagoi, between November 10th and 19th, 1910, inclusive, or who formed part of the column operating against Jebels Katla and Tima, under the command of El Kaimakam Conry Bey, D.S.O., between November 27th and December 19th, 1910, both dates inclusive, the silver medal with bar inscribed in English and Arabic S. KORDOFAN 1910 was granted, and to those already in possession of the medal, the bar. The Government police were included in the troops, and therefore received the medal and bar. The following non-combatants were also entitled to the medal and bar in silver: Government Civil employees; Sheikhs, and Armed Guides, whilst the bronze medal without bar was granted to Civilian Syces of Officers, Civilian Servants of Officers, and Transport Drivers.

=Sudan, 1912.=--To the troops, including Sudan Government police, who took part in the operations against the Beir and Anuak tribes, the medal with bar inscribed SUDAN 1912 in English and Arabic was awarded. Those entitled had taken part in the Pibor reconnaissance under the command of El Bimbashi Dickinson between October 12th and December 25th, 1911, both dates inclusive, or had formed part of the columns operating against the Beir tribe under the command of El Miralai Drake Bey, between the dates stated below, both dates inclusive:

I. Northern Column under the command of El Bimbashi Dickinson, December 26th, 1911, to March 15th, 1912.

II. Central Column under the command of El Miralai Drake Bey, December 31st, 1911, to March 15th, 1912.

III. Southern Column under the command of El Kaimakam Arden Bey, January 1st to February 3rd, 1912.

The column operating against the Anuak tribe under the command of El Miralai Leveson Bey, D.S.O., between March 4th and April 12th, 1912, both dates inclusive. The medal and bar in silver was awarded to Government Civil employees, Sheikhs, and Armed Guides, although classed as non-combatants; whilst the medal in bronze without bar was again awarded to Civilian Syces of Officers, Civilian Servants of Officers, and Transport Drivers.

=Sudan Medal, 1910.=--The medal, 1⅞ in. in diameter, bears on the obverse the cypher of the Khedive Abbas Hilmi El Thani (Abbas II) and the date Hegira 1328. On the reverse, modelled by Richard Garbe, R.B.S., is a lion standing in the attitude of attention, with its fore paws resting upon a small panel bearing the record SUDAN above the exergue, in which is a Sudanese shield and spears. Forming the background to the lion is the Nile within its banks, with the sun rising and casting its rays over the sky and sparkling the water of the river. The suspender is like that employed on the South African medal, and the bars, ⅛ in. wide and riveted the same distance apart, are of the same character. The photograph (facing page 204) illustrating the medal does not properly depict the disposition of the bars, as they are unfixed, the medal with loose bars having been kindly placed at my disposal for the purpose of illustration herein by the Military Secretary of the Egyptian Army. The ribbon of watered silk, 1¼ in. wide, is black with a narrow edge of green and an under, outer edging of red.

NAVAL WAR MEDALS

I have given military war medals preference over those awarded for naval service, not because I do not recognise the first line of defence as worthy of priority, for, as I have pointed out, the first medals of which we have any record were probably given as mementoes of, or as rewards for, the defeat of the Armada, but because the variety given for land service is considerably greater, and, in many instances, as a naval contingent also participated, it enabled me to deal with the historical aspect out of hand, a necessity which the concise nature of the book demands.

=The Armada Medals.=--The story of gallant Drake, Frobisher, and Hawkins is perennially fresh in the minds of every Briton, and how the wind came to their aid and practically destroyed the 120 mighty galleons of Spain, while the flower of her nobility, with 30,000 men, were killed in battle or drowned. I have already referred _en passant_ to the medals issued in the latter part of the sixteenth century. The "Ark-in-Flood," a very handsome oval medal, is one of the most striking of the Elizabethan series (see facing page 270), and a particularly fine one is in the possession of W. R. Parker-Jervis, Esq., who inherited it from his aunt, Lady Forester. The medal was given to Lord Uppingham after the defeat of the Armada in 1588, and it is on record, in a book at Woburn Abbey, that this medal was awarded to Admirals and Commanders who took part in the battle, and was worn by them as a badge. Pinkerton states that it was given, in gold and silver, to Marine Commanders as a mark of royal approbation, and I think we have sufficient evidence that it was given to the leading spirits of the Armada. This medal differs in several respects from the one described on page 2, for while on the one referred to above there are rays behind the head of Elizabeth and it is framed in laurel leaves with a twist of rope as suspender, that referred to in the beginning of the book has only the simple beaded border, the only embellishment being a fancy scroll on either side of a double ring suspender, and the motto reads ELIZABETH · D · G · ANGLIE · F · ET · HI · REG. It will be noted on comparison that the stops between the letters in the Uppingham medal are round instead of diamond-shape as on the simpler medal. James I, as I have previously described, issued a medal very similar. These were, it may be presumed, suspended from the neck, but medallions were sometimes worn in the hat.

[Illustration: COMMONWEALTH MEDAL FOR DUTCH WARS, 1653.]

[Illustration: ELIZABETHAN NAVAL MEDAL.]

=Drake's Medal.=--This handsome medal, given to Sir Francis Drake by Queen Elizabeth after his voyage round the world, now in the possession of the descendants of the famous commander at Nutwell Court, Devonshire, is a characteristic example of the Elizabethan jeweller's art. The frame, set with diamonds and rubies, and enamelled in various colours, forms a handsome setting for the fine cameo cut in onyx, and attributed to Valerio Vincenteno. Two heads are carved thereon, one representing Europe cut in the lower strata of white, while out of the upper strata of black the head of a negro has been fashioned. Set in the reverse is a beautiful miniature of Queen Elizabeth by the famous painter Nicholas Hilliard, with the date Anno Dom: 1575 Regni 20. From the badge depends a cluster of baroque pearls connecting a pear-shaped drop with the main body of the badge. The virgin Queen also presented the intrepid mariner with a jewelled star of twelve points; rubies set in the rays, and diamonds and opals in the circular centre surrounding an orb indicative of sovereignty. Loops are attached for fixing on to the coat.

=Charles I Naval Medals.=--Charles I issued a medal which, because of its size, could not have been intended as a personal decoration, but rather to commemorate the launching of the famous three-decker, the "Royal Sovereign," in 1637. On the obverse is a portrait in profile of the King looking left: it varies, however, and on one the monarch is represented with a ruff round the neck, and a jewel depending from stars on the shoulder; and on the other he is represented in armour, with long curling hair over a turn-down collar. Around the bust is the motto CAROLVS ◆ I ◆ D ◆ G ◆ MAG ◆ BRITAIN ◆ FRAN ◆ ET ◆ HIB ◆ REX. On the truncation is 1639. The medal is in silver 2·35 in. in diameter, and is by Nicholas, Bristol. On the reverse is the "Royal Sovereign" under full sail, and to the left tiny promontories with forts thereon; around the ship is the inscription NEC ◆ META ◆ MIHI ◆ QVÆ ◆ TERMINVS ◆ ORBI. A smaller medal, probably for naval service, was likewise issued with the same inscription. It was not, however, a small replica of the medal just described, although it bore the same effigy of King Charles I on the obverse, and a ship in full sail on the reverse, for the actual design and modelling differ.

=Commonwealth Naval Medals.=--Although I have stated that the Dunbar medal was the first campaign medal to be distributed to military officers and men of all ranks, the Navy holds the distinction of being the first to be honoured in this way, for in June 1649 it was decided to issue rewards to the officers and men who had "done good service at sea." The medal, designed by Thomas Simon, has on the obverse the Parliament in session, and on the reverse two distinctive cartouches, depending from the stock of an anchor. The one to the left bears the St. George's Cross for England, and that on the right the Harp for Ireland; a rope attached to the anchor is disposed so as to form a decorative surrounding by the arrangement of three twists; above is the word MERUISTI. On the stock of the anchor are the medallist's initials T. S. An order of the Council of State records that Simon was granted the use of the press in the Tower of London on condition that he did not use it for any other purpose than that of striking these medals, and he had to enter into a surety for £500 that he would "make no unlawful use of the presse."

=Wyard Medal.=--Robert Wyard of the "Adventure," with 22 guns, was on the night of July 31st, 1650, bold enough to engage six royalist frigates, and after fighting a whole day made them sheer off. Wyard received a gold medal, which I illustrate, valued at £50, and his officers and men medals varying in value from £5 to 10_s._ The obverse of the medal is as that above described. The reverse shows the "Adventure" engaging two of the royalist frigates with the other ships in the distance. Above is the inscription SERVICE ◆ DON ◆ AGAINST ◆ SIX ◆ SHIPS ◆ IVLY ◆ Y ◆ XXXI ◆ & AVGVST ◆ Y ◆ 1 ◆ 1650. The medal is oval, 1·6 in. by 1·35 in., and was struck in gold and silver. (See facing page 270.)

THE DUTCH WARS

For the victories over the Dutch some fine medals were struck. Probably the most interesting is the gold medal awarded to the Admirals who participated in the war and in the decisive battle fought on July 31st, 1653.

On February 28th, 1653, Generals Blake, Deane, and Monk defeated the Dutch fleet under Admirals Van Tromp and De Rutzer, and after a three-days' fight defeated them off Portland. In this engagement soldiers served for the first time on board ship, and the Marines came into existence. At the beginning of June the Dutch admirals were again defeated by the English Generals Deane, Penn, and Monk; but although the English did not lose a ship, General Deane was killed in the action. The English then followed the Dutch to their own coasts, and on July 31st the enemy was badly beaten after a terrific fight in which they lost 26 ships, their Admiral, Van Tromp, and about 6,000 men. The English losses were 2 ships and 1,300 men killed and wounded. The English Parliament was not slow to reward the victors, for on August 8th it was resolved to award Generals Blake and Monk gold chains valued at £300 apiece; to Vice-Admiral Penn and Rear-Admiral Lawson chains of the value of £100, and to the four staff officers chains worth £40 each for their brilliant services. The money was ordered to be deducted from the £2,000 voted, and the balance spent in the issue of medals among the officers of the fleet.

=Types of Medal.=--Four types of medal were issued. One with a broad border of naval trophies having on the obverse to left and right cartouches bearing the Arms of Holland and Zealand, and on the reverse in place thereof side drums. The obverse bears an anchor from the stock of which are suspended three elaborate shields bearing St. George's Cross, St. Andrew's Cross, the Irish Harp, and "the Armes of the Com̃on wealth." A cable attached to the anchor encircles the whole in a decorative manner. On the reverse is depicted a naval battle; a ship sinking in the foreground has on the stern the medallist's surname, and on the prow of another is T.S., while on the lower wing of the anchor on the obverse is the monogram T.S., so that Thomas Simon made quite sure that we should know who was responsible for the medal, which, with the elaborate border, is 2·2 in. by 2 in. with a ring for suspension. Three of the larger medals are known to be in existence. The medal given to the four staff officers was 2 in. by 1·8 in., and the obverse and reverse are the same; but the border on both sides is of laurel as the one illustrated. One of these medals, presented to Captain William Haddock, who commanded the "America," was purchased by Messrs. Spink at auction for £430 in May 1908; it had realised £105 in 1879.

=Gold Medals for Officers.=--Gold medals with a plain border, but with the same obverse and reverse as those described, were given to officers of the fleet; and I might here remark that if a copy of this rare medal comes under the notice of collectors, they should look for the surname and initials, which forgers have generally overlooked.

[Illustration: (Reverse.)

THE WYARD MEDAL, 1650.]

[Illustration: ARMADA MEDAL AWARDED TO LORD UPPINGHAM.]

[Illustration: (Obverse.)

THE WYARD MEDAL, 1650.]

=Seamen's Medals.=--To the seamen was awarded a small oval medal 0·95 in. by 0·85 in. also by Simon. Like the other medals it has a ring for suspension, and bears on the obverse an anchor from the stock of which depends two shields bearing respectively the Cross of St. George and the Irish Harp, encircled by a cable which runs round the whole. Above the stock is MERUISTI (Thou hast merited), and on the reverse the House of Commons as on the Dunbar medal.

=The Triumph Medal.=--During the fight on July 31st Admiral Robert Blake's old flagship (he was ashore owing to a wound) caught fire, and many of the men jumped overboard; but those who remained extinguished the fire and saved the ship. For this service the officers and those who had stuck to the ship were awarded a special medal with the obverse and reverse as on the other medals, but with the inscription engraved above the battle scene: FOR EMINENT SERVICE IN SAVING Y TRIUMPH FIRED IN FIGHT Wʰ Y DVCH IN IVLY 1653. This medal is 1·6 in. by 1·4 in.

=Blake's Jewel.=--On May 28th, 1657, the House of Commons voted £5,000 for a jewel to be "bestowed on General Blake" for his service in destroying the Spanish fleet off Teneriffe on April 20th. The jewel, supposed to have been a ring, was dispatched to Blake, but whether he received it or not is uncertain, although, as he died within sight of Plymouth on August 7th, 1657, it is quite probable that he did.

=Charles II Medals.=--In October 1665 Charles II had proclaimed that a definite percentage of the value of prizes should be paid to those who captured them from the Dutch, and that a portion of the proceeds should be set aside to help the widows of those who died in battle, to assist the sick and wounded, and to provide medals for those who performed special service.