India General Service Medal (1854-1895), with bar for Naga-1879-80, awarded to Bugler Shaick Khoola Bux, 1880
Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria |
Reverse, Victory crowning a seated Classical warrior with a laurel wreath |
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Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria |
Reverse, Victory crowning a seated Classical warrior with a laurel wreath |
The Army of India Medal's issue in 1849 having marked the previous half-century's combats in the region, further conflicts in the 1850s led in 1854 to the design and issue of a General Service Medal for the theatre, for which bars would be issued as each new campaign merited.
This bar was awarded for any of three expeditions in the general area of the modern province of Nagaland in north-eastern India, one in 1875 against the Naga people, or two simultaneous ones against besiegers at Kohima and the Naga stronghold of Konoma, both conflicts being sparked by the murder of British representatives in Naga territories. The Naga people had been headhunters and were often engrossed in civil conflicts which the British used to slowly advance their position in the territory until it was annexed to British India in 1892.
This medal was awarded to Bugler Shaick Khoola Bux of the 44th Native Infantry, a Gurkha unit. Lester Watson acquired the medal at some point before 1928.