Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Captain J. H. Harford, Indian Volunteer Forces

Indian Volunteer Forces Officers’ Decoration, G.V.R., the reverse officially engraved, ‘Capt. J. H. Harford, 2nd Bn. N.W. Ry. Vol. Rfls.); Volunteer Force Long Service (India & the Colonies), G.V.R. (Captn. J. H. Hartford, 2d Bn. N.W. Ry. Vol. Rfls.), officially engraved naming (note surname spelling), the first lacking upper brooch bar, extremely fine (2)
£200-250

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Long Service Medals from the Collection formed by John Tamplin.

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North Western Railway Volunteer Rifles

James Henry Harford was born in June 1863 and was educated at La Martiniere College, Lucknow and Thomason Civil Engineering College at Rorkee. Gaining an appointment with the Rewari Ferozepore State Railway in 1883, he was employed on construction and survey work for several years, including the building of the Kaiser-i-Hind and Baikhan bridges, while from 1891 he was engaged in work on the North-Western Railway at Lahore - he was appointed Executive Engineer in charge of the Headquarters Division in April 1905 and, having moved to the Northern District, Deputy Chief Engineer in 1918

And it was at Lahore that he was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the North Western Railway Volunteer Rifles in May 1905, gaining advancement to Lieutenant in December 1909 and to Captain in April 1913. Harford was awarded the Indian Volunteer Force Long Service Medal in IAO 290 of 1 June 1914 and the Indian Volunteer Forces Officers’ Decoration in the Gazette of India on 2 March 1918, and settled in Sussex on his retirement. He died at St. Leonards-on-Sea in January 1936, aged 72 years; sold with related research.