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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 337

A rare pair awarded to Colour-Sergeant W. Lynch, Liverpool Regiment

Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., 3rd issue, small letter reverse (1449 Cr. Sgt. W. Lynch, L’pool R.); Empress of India 1877, silver, the reverse field neatly engraved ‘W. Lynch, 1/8th The King’s Regt.’, with its neck riband as worn, good very fine (2)

William Lynch, a Porter from St. Peter’s, Dublin, who enlisted in the Liverpool Regiment in July 1865, served with the Colours for 33 years, gaining advancement to Corporal in October 1880, Sergeant in March 1882 and, shortly after transferring to the 4th Battalion, Colour-Sergeant in November 1887. His final posting was to the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion in July 1892 and he was discharged in May 1899.

And his Empress of India Medal, in Silver, awarded while serving in ‘D’ Company of the 1st Battalion in 1877, is verified on his record of service, and by the following extract from Regimental Records:

‘On 1 January 1877, there was a parade of all the troops in the garrison in review order, on the occasion of a proclamation being read announcing that Her Majesty has assumed the title of Empress of India. A feu de joie of one hundred and one guns was fired by the artillery, and three rounds by the infantry: each non-commissioned officer and soldier received a gratuity of one day’s pay, and a silver medal was presented to one soldier in each corps selected by its commanding officer. No. 1449 Private W. Lynch, of ‘D’ Company, was the soldier of the King’s Regiment selected for this distinction.’

The Empress of India Medal was given to very few selected officers and/or men of regiments in India in commemoration of the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India at a ceremonial Durbar held in Delhi on 1st January 1877.

Remarkably, although an official award (though of unusually large size and worn round the neck) it was very quickly ordered that it was not to be worn in uniform by its recipients. This regulation was later altered so that recipients still in service were authorised to wear it on 1 January each year, the anniversary of the Durbar.


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Sold for
£1,300

Starting price
£950