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Auction: 9022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 151

x Scinde 1843, for Meeanee (Wm. Surtees Esq), engraved in serif capitals, nearly extremely fine, with contemporary German silver straight bar suspension Estimate £ 600-800 William Ingham Surtees (1807-79), born Riding, the following obituary notice appeared in the Newcastle Daily Journal, ´´The following short sketch of the life of our late townsman, William Ingham Surtees, whose death at Hamsterley Hall we recorded last week, may, we think, be of some interest to our readers. He was the youngest son of the late Mr. Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley, and was born on the 3rd of October, 1807, at the Riding, in the house at present occupied by Mr. Lorraine, which at the time belonged to his father. He joined the British forces in India so far back as the year 1826, and was in the army twelve years, when he entered the Civil Service, in which he remained till he left India in 1861. Whilst so employed he made many distinguished friends in both services. Although now a civilian he never failed to volunteer for military duty whenever he could be of use. In this capacity he took part in the Afghan and Scinde wars. He formed one of the little band of 100 heroes who so bravely defended the British Residency at Hyderabad against 8,000 Beloochees, previous to the battle in Meeanee in 1843. The value of his services was recognised by special decorations for Hyderabad and Meeanee. When the district was annexed, he was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Government of Scinde, and held that post till 1849, when he was created a magistrate for the Presidency of Bombay and dependencies and retained the appointment till 1855, when ill-health obliged him to resign and return to England. After two years´´ residence in his native land he was so far restored to health that, on hearing of the Indian Mutiny, he hastened again to volunteer for military duty, and was appointed extra A.D.C. to his old commander, Sir James Outram. In addition to the Hyderabad and Meeanee medals, he received decorations for Delhi, Lucknow, and the Indian Mutiny. He had charge of the Fort at Rori and the surrounding district from 1858 to 1861, when he was obliged to resign and return to England, his health having again failed, from the effects of a wound he received by the bursting of a shell at the relief of Lucknow. He was buried last Saturday in the family vault at Ebchester.´´ The Obituary Notice is at variance with the medal. Given, however, the level of accuracy of ´´local publications´´ commenting or indeed being provided with a verbal account, on events many years previous it is perhaps not surprising that mistakes often creep in. For example this obituary gives the defence of Hyderabad as occurring prior to the battle of Meeanee. What we do know for certain is that Surtees was the Assistant Secretary to the Commissioner in Scinde, from at least May 1848 (see copy of letter from him in his official capacity to Major John Jacob, Commanding Frontier, included with lot); Surtees continued to be employed in this position and took on the extra responsibility as Deputy Collector and Magistrate, Karachi, from July 1850; he stayed in this appointment until 1.1.1856, when he went on 15 months medical leave; he returned to the same appointment and took charge of the Treasury, from 1.1.1858; transferred to the same appointment at Roree, from 1.11.1859, and retired 1861.

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£1,600