Orders, Decorations and Medals

A rare Waziristan 1901-02 operations C.B. group of three awarded to Colonel V. C. Tonnochy, 3rd and 4th Sikhs, who was killed in action at Gumatti in November 1902 during the Kabul Khel Expedition

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, complete with swivel-ring suspension and riband buckle; India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89 (Captn. V. C. Tonnochy, S.C.); India General Service 1895-1902, 5 clasps, Relief of Chitral 1895, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897, Tirah 1897-98, Waziristan 1901-2 (Major V. C. Tonnochy, 4th Sikh Infy.), the first with slightly chipped enamel wreaths and the second with officially corrected surname, otherwise good very fine (3) £2500-3000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The collection of Medals formed by the Late Clive Nowell.

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C.B. London Gazette 2 September 1902.

In recognition of services during the Mahsud-Waziri operations and the capture of Nodiz Fort in Mekran.

Valens Congreve Tonnochy, who was born in 1854, was originally commissioned into the 6th Foot, but transferred to the Indian Army with an appointment as a Lieutenant in the 4th Sikhs in 1876.

Mentioned in despatches for his part in the Mahsood Wazeeree Expedition in 1881 - for which no Medal or clasp was issued - he was advanced to Captain in 1885 and raised and commanded the Shan States Levy in the operations in Burma 1886-89. Having then been advanced to Major after serving in the Isazei Expedition of 1892, Tonnochy was appointed second-in-command of the 4th Sikhs on the North West Frontier.

Severely wounded at the storming of the Malakand Pass during the relief of Chitral operations in 1895, he was back in action as C.O. of the 3rd Sikhs in Tochi Field Force on the Punjab Frontier in 1897-98, including the operations on the Samana and in the Kurram Valley; so, too, with the Tirah Field Force at the storming of the Dargai Heights, when the 3rd Sikhs ‘splendidly supported the Gordons in their great charge’, and their C.O. ‘was conspicuous in the forefront of the rush’ (The Campaign in Tirah 1897-98, by Colonel H. D. Hutchinson, refers). Tonnochy subsequently led his Sikhs at the capture of the Sampagha and Arhanga Passes and commanded a brigade in the action of Bagh, in addition to participating in the operations against the Chamkannis and in the Bazar Valley. He was given the Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 5 April 1898 refers.

Tonnochy was next actively employed in the Waziristan operations 1901-02, and more particularly in the Kabul Khel Expedition, when he commanded the Bannu Column, comprising the 3rd and 4th Sikhs, 60 sabres of the 21st Punjab Cavalry and two guns of the Goojerat Mountain Battery - his earlier services as a Brigade Commander had resulted in a further “mention” (London Gazette 8 August 1902 refers), and the award of his C.B.

But, as stated, it was for his command of the Bannu Column in the Kabul Khel operations that he will best be remembered, in which capacity he advanced on the rebel stronghold at Gumatti in November 1902. There, on the 18th, after negotiations broke down between the Deputy Commissioner of Bannu District and the ruthless rebel leader Sailgi, he commenced operations against the bandits’ fort. His guns having made little impression at 1,000 yards range, Colonel Tonnochy ordered that they be moved much nearer to the fort’s walls, and it was in the process of going forward to inspect progress that he was mortally wounded - in the event, the fort was stormed by the 3rd Sikhs and all of the bandits within killed, but not without cost, our losses amounting to four killed and 15 wounded.