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Auction: 19003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 3

(x) Punjab 1848-49, 2 clasps, Mooltan, Goojerat (Patk. Doherty. 10th Foot.), minor edge nicks, otherwise good very fine

Patrick Doherty was born in Ireland circa 1821. The 1841 census shows him living in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, employed as a hawker. He enlisted in the 10th (North Lincolnshire) Regiment, which embarked for India in 1842. Following the British victory in the First Sikh War, the Regiment formed part of the Lahore garrison under Major-General Whish (Medals sold in these rooms April 2018). Its task was to oversee the punitive peace terms imposed on the Sikh Empire following the Battle of Sobraon. On 19 April 1848 the fortress of Mooltan, 200 miles to the south-west, rose in revolt. Dithering by the British High Command meant that Whish's force did not leave Lahore until 24 July, by which time Mooltan's defences had grown stronger. The force sailed down the River Ravi, uniting with Herbert Edwardes' irregulars outside Mooltan on 18 August. On 12 September, the 10th Foot were ordered to clear the enemy from a high-walled enclosure containing an ancient temple. There were a number of fruit trees around the walls. Edwardes, watching the attack, recalled seeing 'the Irishmen of the 10th' swinging over the wall on the branches of the trees. It is unclear whether he assumed them to be Irish because of the proportion of that nationality in the regiment, or whether he thought that only Irishmen would swing on trees like that! (Cook 1975, 133). Doherty went on to fight at the Second Siege of Mooltan, resulting in the final capture of the city on 22 January 1849. He was also present at Goojerat, the crowning British victory, on 21 February; sold with copied census records.

Reference source:
Cook, H. C. B., The Sikh Wars: The British Army in the Punjab 1845-1849 (London, 1975).


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Sold for
£380

Starting price
£240