The exceptional Naga Hills 1875 Order of Merit and 7-clasp I.G.S. pair awarded to Subadar Heema Chund, 44th Gurkha Regiment of Bengal Infantry, who was killed in action at Manipur in March 1891

(a) Order of Merit, 3rd Class, the plain reverse officially inscribed on three lines ‘3rd Class “Order of Merit”’, complete with silver ribbon buckle

(b) India General Service 1854-94, 7 clasps, Bhootan, Looshai, Naga 1879-80, Burma 1885-87, Burma 1887-89, Chin-Lushai 1889-90, N.E. Frontier 1891 (Sepoy Heema Chund, 44th Regt. N.I.) the pair mounted from a twin-brooch silver buckle, central enamel chipped on the first, otherwise very fine and exceptionally rare (2) £6000-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Heema Chund joined the 44th (Sylhet) Regiment of Native Infantry on 14 April 1859, and first saw active service in the operations of 1862-63 in the Khasiah Jantia Hills where he was wounded. He served in the punitive expedition against the Bhootanis in 1864-66, and, in 1871-72, was employed with his regiment in the expedition against the Looshais following the abduction of the tea-planter’s daughter, Mary Winchester. After many skirmishes and the capture of several villages, the Looshais capitulated after a campaign of ten weeks and the girl was released. He next participated in the Duffla Expedition of 1874-75.

By February 1875 Heema Chund had attained the rank of Havildar and was stationed at Dibrugarin. At 9 a.m. on the morning of the 16th of that month, word reached Colonel J. M. Nuttall, commanding the 44th, of a treacherous attack on a survey party under Lieutenant Holcombe in the Naga Hills in which eighty men had been killed and fifty wounded, ‘the bulk being defenceless coolies’. By noon Nuttall had Heema Chund and every other available man under arms and marching up to the Naga frontier. ‘On the 23rd’, records the History of the 8th Ghurka Rifles, the lineal descendant of the three old Assam regiments the 42nd, 43rd and 44th, ‘parties of the 42nd and 44th were placed under his orders. The expedition, after a most difficult progress, made worse by rivers swollen by the recent rains, was completely successful. All villages implicated in the outrage were destroyed, and nearly all arms and plunder taken from the Survey Party recovered’. Nuttall and all ranks involved subsequently received the thanks of the Government, while in addition, Havildar Heema Chund, a Naik and two Sepoys received the Indian Order of Merit, 3rd Class (GGO 1133 of 12 November 1875).

On 18 February 1877 he was commissioned Jemadar, and on 7 August 1879 promoted Subadar. He returned to the Naga Hills in December of the latter year an with expedition, under Brigadier-General J. L. Nation, which drove the Nagas out of their stronghold at Konoma after desperate fighting in which Captain R. K. Ridgeway (see Lot 90), the Adjutant of the 44th Gurkhas, won the Victoria Cross. The Nagas fell back on the Chaka Forts, but agreed to surrender in March 1880. Subadar Heema Chund next served in the Burma campaign of 1885-87, and was further engaged in that country against bandits in 1887-89, and during the campaign against the Chin and Lushai tribes in 1889-90.

He gained his seventh clasp posthumously, for service in Manipur, a small state between Assam and Burma on the North East Frontier in 1891, when it became necessary to settle the dispute between the eight sons of the late ruler and support the recognised heir. The Manipuris had assisted the Indian Government against the Burmese, and in 1887 a present was made to the Rajah of some hundreds of rifles, a supply of cartridges, and two 7-pounder field-pieces with a quantity of shell and case shot. These were the arms and munitions of war that were used with deadly effect against our troops in the revolt of 1891. A disputed succession and a palace revolution that had substituted one rajah for another had caused the Indian Government some anxiety. The dispossessed Rajah was intriguing for reinstatement, and the Indian Government, on the report of Mr. Grimwood, the local Resident, decided that the centre of agitation and trouble at the Manipur Court was a prince known as the Senaputi, literally the “Lord of the Army”, and determined that he should be arrested and removed from the state.

Mr. Quinton, the Chief Commissioner of Assam, was ordered to proceed to Manipur, hold a durbar, and arrest the Senaputi. He took with him an escort of 400 Goorkhas, consisting of 200 men of the 44th under Captian Boileau and Lieutenant Brackenbury, and 200 men of the 42nd under Colonel Skene, Lieutenants Lugard and Chatterton and Surgeon Calvert. There was already a guard of a hundred Goorkhas of the 42nd, under Lieutenant Simpson, stationed at Manipur as an escort for Mr. Grimwood. Quinton reached Manipur early on the morning of March 22nd, and summoned a durbar for the same afternoon. The durbar met, but the Senaputi, who evidently had some information of what was intended, refused to leave the palace and meet the Commissioner. The durbar was adjourned till next day. Meanwhile, Grimwood saw the Rajah and endeavoured to impress upon him the importance of his minister attending the durbar, warning him that his absence would be a dangerous defiance of the Government's authority. But on the 23rd the Senaputi was still contumacious, and it was resolved to effect his arrest by force.

Accordingly at dawn on the 24th Colonel Skene, of the Goorkhas, entered the palace at the head of 250 of his men. But the Manipuris had prepared for resistance. The palace was swarming with men (6,000 in all, it was said), two guns were in position to sweep the approach inside the main gate, and, as the Goorkhas entered, hundreds of rifles opened on them from roofs, windows, and loopholed walls. An attempt was made to rush the guns. It failed and Lieutenant Brackenbury, who led it, was literally riddled with bullets, and his Subadar, Heema Chund, and Havildar killed. In addition, a Jemadar, a Havildar and seven Sepoys were wounded, and Brackenbury’s wound eventually proved mortal.

The day was over for the gallant Subadar Heema Chund, but Skene persisted in his attempt to take possession of the palace. The fighting continued for some hours and about noon the Manipuris used their superiority in numbers to make a determined attack on the Residency. Colonel Skene then felt that he could no longer keep his small force divided between the Residency and the palace, and, carrying his wounded with him (among them poor young Brackenbury), he withdrew his men to the former building. The Manipur men came swarming after them, and the Residency buildings which were badly fitted for defence, were soon closely besieged. Heavy rifle firing went on till evening, many of the garrison being killed and wounded. The guns were dragged down from the palace, and the Residency was bombarded at close range. One shell burst in the stable and killed all the horses. Others exploded in the upper rooms, and it was only by great efforts that the place was kept from taking fire. At 7 o'clock Colonel Skene, after a consultation with his colleagues, decided to try what negotiation would do. The bugles sounded the “Cease fire,” and, after some delay, the Manipuris stopped firing; and Mr. Quinton, his secretary, Mr. Cossins, the Resident, Mr. Grimwood, and Colonel Skene and Lieutenant Simpson, of the Goorkhas, came out to meet the Rajah and his chiefs. They had no sooner left their own lines when they were treacherously attacked and seized before they could attempt either flight or resistance.

A force was at once assembled on the northern border of Burma for the recapture of Manipur and the rescue of the prisoners. It was commanded by General Graham, and made up of four companies of the K.R.R.C., a Gurkha battalion, a battalion of Madras Infantry, and a British Mountain battery. On 26th April, Graham's three columns met near Manipur and entered the city which had been deserted by the rebel princes and their followers. “The aspect of the place was extraordinary,” wrote Reuter's correspondent with the force. “Scarcely a human being was to be seen. The whole of the capital was wrapped in silence. As the troops marched into the midst of the cluster of houses, they encountered no foe, for there was not a fighting man within the walls. It was a deserted city. Moving on wearily, the British force entered the enclosures of the palace of the Maharajah. Here also was absolute stillness. The magazine had been blown up and the inside of the palace was a wreck. It had been sacked from end to end and hardly a thing of value remained in it. One discovery, which, though not unexpected, and sent a thrill of horror through all ranks, was made. Within the palace enclosure were found the heads of the British officials and officers who had fallen a prey to the treachery of the rulers of Manipur.”

Refs: Manipur, compiled from the columns of the Pioneer (Allahabad 1891); History of the 8th Gurkha Rifles 1824-1949 (Huxford); Bengal Army List 1884.