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Auction: 19002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 13

(x) India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, North West Frontier (2327 J Rees 1st Bn. 22nd Regt.), contact marks, nearly very fine

John Rees was born at Clannio, Abertempest, Cardiganshire circa 1822. He enlisted into the 1st Battalion, 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot on 31 October 1842, serving in Colonel S. J. Cotton's expedition against the Mohmand tribe in August 1854 (Medal & clasp). This campaign was launched in response to a Mohmand chief's refusal to pay annual tribute to the British. The chief had challenged the Deputy Commissioner, Captain H. R. James, saying: 'All you have got to do is to come and take it.' Mohmand territory straddled the Khyber Pass, and was still terra incognita to the British. The temperature there had risen to 110 degrees celsius in the shade. Perhaps understandably, the chief felt confident that the British would never come, but against all expectations, Colonel Cotton received orders to: 'go and exact the tribute and, if necessary, punish the tribe.' Several native villages were destroyed, and the Mohmands promptly surrendered.

Rees was promoted to Corporal on 1 March 1862, receiving the Long Service & Good Conduct Medal on 2 May 1863. He was discharged at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight on 8 November 1864, transferring to the 1st Forfarshire Rifle Volunteers. He became an Out-Pensioner of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham; sold with copied service papers and research.

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Sold for
£220