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Auction: 24112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 549

Pair: Captain I. S. Torrance, Indian Army

British War and Victory Medals (Capt. I. S. Torrance.), edge bruise, very fine (2)

Ian Symington Torrance was born on 27 November 1895 at the Free Church Mission House, Poona, the son of Janet and Reverend John Torrance, at the time his father was working as a missionary in India. He returned to Britian at some stage in his youth although it is not clear when as much of his first five years were spent between London, Bombay and Trieste.

Commissioned Lieutenant on 23 February 1915 and joined the 10th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Joining this unit in the field Torrance was wounded in action during the attack on Martinpuich on 15 September 1916, a remarkably successful action in which the Battalion took 300 prisoners.

Transferring to the Indian Army the next year on 1 October 1917 with the rank of Lieutenant and posted to the 2/42 Deoli Regiment. The second Battalion had been raised that same year and was largely used for internal security within India with the exception of one Company which was ordered to Mesopotamia.

After the war Torrance emigrated to South Africa, marrying Mary Letitia (Tish) Cooksley Menné in 1927. He became a farmer in Louis Trichardt, Limpopo and appears to have had some success, with travel documents in 1952 referring to him as a 'Mill Prop[rietor]'. Torrance died at Pietersburg, Northern Transvaal on 25 March 1970.

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Sold for
£45

Starting price
£30