An extremely rare Indian Mutiny Order of Merit pair awarded to Naick Hinghan Khan, 2/8th Battalion, Bengal Artillery, for his loyal services during the defence of the Residency at Lucknow, June to September 1857

Indian Order of Merit, Military Division, 1st type, 3rd Class, Reward of Valor, silver and enamel, fully hallmarked on lower obverse point for London 1859, maker’s mark for J. S. Hunt, with further silver marks on reverse of suspension bar and connecting ring, solid reverse type inscribed on three lines ‘3rd Class “Order of Merit”’, complete with three-pronged ribbon buckle; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Defence of Lucknow (Naick Hinghan Khan, 2d Coy. 8th Battn. Arty.) naming officially engraved in running script, central enamel mostly lacking from first, otherwise good fine and better (2) £5000-6000

The 2nd Company, 8th Battalion Bengal Artillery was one of three companies of native foot artillery in the Bengal Army. In May 1857, commanded by Captain A. P. Simons, who was mortally wounded at Chinhut on 30 June 1857, it was stationed at Lucknow and “in battery” with No. 2 Bullock Field Battery. It was located in the cantonment of Mariao (Mandiaon) three miles north of the city, along with the 13th, 48th and 71st Bengal Native Infantry. The first outbreak at Lucknow was the mutiny of the 7th Oudh Infantry on 7th May, and this had been quickly quelled. Recognising the signs of more general unrest amongst the Bengal and Oudh troops, steps were immediately taken to secure strategic points in and around the city. Thus H.M’s 32nd Foot was moved to Mariao to keep a check on the native units quartered there. The three infantry regiments mutinied on the night of 30th May, although there were elements from all of them, mostly the 13th, who remained loyal. No record has been traced of the extent to which the native battery of Bengal Artillery rebelled, but the relatively large numbers of officers and men who survived to claim the Order of Merit, and the Indian Mutiny medal, is an indication that it remained largely loyal. Details of the precise services of the loyal Indian soldiers during the period of the Defence are hard to come by, and even Francis Stubbs finds very little to say about this:

“It is not possible to ascertain the number of natives belonging to the artillery who took part in the siege, or of the casualties which occurred. But after the final relief and evacuation of the residency, a General Order intimated that every native commissioned, non-commissioned officer and soldier who formed part of the garrison of Lucknow should receive the order of merit and count three years of additional service; and on the Rolls dated Camp Alam Bagh, the 19th of February, there appeared to be then surviving five of the Gun Lascar detail attached to the 4th Company 1st Battalion and five Syce drivers of No.9 Field Battery. Of the 2nd Company 8th Battalion there were on the same roll a Subadar Major, a Subadar, 4 Havildars, 5 Naicks, and 13 privates, with 3 Sirdars and 12 of the ordnance drivers of No.2 Bullock Field Battery. And there were other warrant or non-commissioned officers from the Artillery in the Oudh Irregular Force, Commissariat or Public Works Department, whose names have not been ascertained with certainty.”

The 2nd Company, 8th Bengal Artillery fought in the Residency compound throughout the Defence of Lucknow and all surviving combatant ranks were admitted to the Order of Merit as well as receiving promotions in rank. Hinghan Khan himself was promoted to Naik in Garrison Artilleru Orders dated 24 September 1857. But there was no reprieve for the foot artillery companies in the post-H.E.I.C. reconstruction of the Indian Army and all were disbanded shortly afterwards.

From the evidence of medal rolls, a total of sixty-two officers and other ranks of the 2nd Company, 8th Battalion Bengal Foot Artillery claimed the Mutiny medal for service during the Defence of Lucknow, or in the subsequent operations that ended in the capture of the City from the rebels in March 1858. The 2/8 Bengal Artillery was disbanded in 1860.

See also Lot 457 for the campaign medal awarded to one of his descendants who was also awarded the I.O.M.