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Auction: 22001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 20

Punjab 1848-49, 1 clasp, Mooltan (Purser J. Smith, Ind Flot.), edge bruise, good very fine and rare

James Smith was appointed Purser on the East India Register on 11 November 1836 and was with the Cleopatra in 1847. He served with the Indus Flotilla at the Siege of Mooltan, which upon its commencement on 21 December 1848, formed a Brigade of Seaman under the command of Commander Powell, Superintendent of the Indus Flotilla. Although C. R. Low records '...about one hundred men' the nominal list shows only approximately fifty men '...being actively employed on shore' - with the following entitlement to the 'Mooltan' clasp to their Medal.

Indeed, Major (later Sir) Herbert Edwardes, commented:

'It was a fine sight to see their manly faces, bronzed by long exposure to the burning sun of the Red Sea or Persian Gulf, mingling with the dark soldiers of Hindostan, or contrasting with the fairer but not healthier occupants of the European Barrack. The looked upon their Battery as a ship, their 18 pounders as so many sweethearts, and the embrasures as port holes.'

Captain Douglas-Morris, in Vol. 1 of his Naval Medals, does not record this Medal in his far-from-complete Roll, while Smith was retired on 15 June 1855.

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Sold for
£1,900

Starting price
£1000