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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 249

An important British War Medal awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel J. A. 'Archie' McLaren, who led the 1st Battalion, 11th Sikhs during the 1942 Burma campaign and was posthumously mentioned in dispatches

British War Medal 1914-20 (Capt. J. A. McLaren), original riband, light contact marks, very fine

John Archibald McLaren, the son of Robert Buchanon McLaren, attended Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow before being gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 2/8th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) on 13 November 1914. The Battalion History shows him stationed in Cairo with the 1/8th Battalion on 7 March 1916. The January 1941 Indian Army List states that McLaren was wounded twice during the campaign in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Admitted to the Indian Army on probation in the rank of Lieutenant on 3 November 1918, he served in Afghanistan as Acting Captain, commanding a Company of the 151st Indian Infantry in 1919. He achieved substantive rank on 12 August that year.

Advanced to Major on 11 August 1933, six years later he became Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 1st Battalion, 11th Sikhs ('Ferozepore Sikhs'). He led this Battalion with great distinction against the Japanese during the Burma campaign, receiving a posthumous mention in dispatches following his death (or murder) on 7 March 1942 (London Gazette, 17 December 1942). He is commemorated on Face 40 of the Rangoon Memorial. Just before the war, he married Hyacinth Susan Farmar and lived at East Knoyle, near Salisbury. He fathered a son, Robin, who grew up to become a Major in the Seaforth Highlanders; sold with copied research.


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Sold for
£70

Starting price
£40