Beschreibung:

The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals The outstanding C.I.E., O.B.I., and 1st Class Order of Merit group of four awarded to Risaldar-Major Maun Singh, Sardar Bahadur, a ‘grand old Sikh’ who, in June 1857, raised the first risala of horse for Lieutenant William Hodson, thereafter known as Hodson’s Horse, and who witnessed the controversial assasination of the two Delhi princes by Hodson (a) The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., 1st type breast badge with INDIA on petals, gold and enamels, complete with gold top suspension brooch (b) Order of British India 1837, 1st Class, gold and enamels (c) Order of Merit, 1st Class, gold and enamel, the plain reverse officially inscribed on three lines ‘1st Class “Order of Merit”’, lower reverse point also inscribed ‘18 Ct.’ above maker’s mark ‘ISH’ for John S. Hunt, fitted with silver-gilt ribbon buckle (d) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 2 clasps, Delhi, Lucknow (Ressuldar Maun Sing, 1st Regt. of Hodson’s Hor..) final part of naming obscured by suspension claw, the first with some enamel chipping, the reverse central plate loose and dented, the Order of Merit with some chipping to centre, the last with refixed suspension, generally very fine £25000-30000 Footnote C.I.E. London Gazette 1 January 1886. O.B.I. 1st Class, 25 October 1872. Order of Merit, 2nd Class, GGO 274 of 1858, for ‘gallant services against the rebels.’ It would seem that this was a direct appointment to the 2nd Class, not an uncommon occurrence during the mutiny. Order of Merit, 1st Class, GGO 909 of 1859, ‘displayed conspicuous gallantry at Nawabgunge, on which occasion he received four sword cuts in a close conflict with the rebels.’ Maun Singh, the son of Sirdar Dava Singh, of Ruriala, in the Gurjanwala district, was born circa 1817. A prominent Ghorchurra and ‘brilliant cavalry leader in the Sikh army’, he served Ranjit Singh in his youth and fought in at least one campaign against the Afghans in the 1830’s. In the First Sikh War he was present at the principal battles against the British. In 1852 he was recruited into the Punjab Mounted Police by Colonel Richard Lawrence and in June 1857 in response to the request of Robert Montgomery, the Judicial Commissioner for the Punjab, he raised the first risala of horse for William Hodson. Two further risalas were raised; one by Rajah Tej Singh, the former commander-in-chief of the Khalsa, who appointed to its command another distinguished Ghorchurra, Sirdar Bal Singh of Chuhar Kana; and the other by an old ally of General Van Cortlandt (See Lot 60), Nawab Imam-ud-Din, who placed in command a young warrior of blood royal, Mirza Ata-ullah Khan. Hodson at this time was acting as Assistant Quartermaster General in charge of the Intelligence Department to such forces that the Commander-in-Chief, George Anson (See Lot 64), had scraped together to meet the crisis of rebellion. By 23 June the three risalas had been formed and, marching from Lahore, they arrived on Delhi Ridge, under Maun Singh, on 12 July. On the 14th, they went in action for the first time, and, with Hodson now in command, successfully cut off on that occasion the mutineers’ line of retreat into the city. Besides participating in the almost daily attacks and counter-attacks on and about the Ridge, Maun Singh took part in the Rohtak expedition in August, in which Hodson inflicted a substantial number of casualties on the hostile Rangurs and completely defeated at Khurkowdah a body of rebels who had come out from Delhi to plunder local villages. In mid-August further newly raised Troops arrived with Nicholson’s Column from the Punjab, and by early September the regiment had evolved under Hodson into a first class, if unorthodox, unit with a fearsome reputation. Recalling the eve of the long-awaited assault on the city, one of Hodson’s officers, Hugh Gough, late of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, remembered: ‘On the evening of 13 September orders were issued for the assault to take pl