Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Captain William Thomas, Kolar Gold Fields Rifle Volunteers

Indian Volunteer Forces Officers’ Decoration, G.V.R., reverse engraved, ‘Capt. W. Thomas, The Kolar Gold Flds. Bn. (A.F.I.)’, with top brooch bar; Volunteer Force Long Service (India & the Colonies), G.V.R. (Capt., Kolar Gold Field Rifle Vols.) engraved naming, second with edge bruising, good very fine (2) £200-240

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

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William Thomas was first recorded as being employed in India in 1906 when he was listed as an Assistant Cyanide Chemist with the Champion Reefs Gold Mining Company at Mysore. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (A.M.I.M.M.) in 1911. He retired as Chief Metallugist for the Champion Reefs Gold Mining Company in 1934. Originally serving in the ranks of the Volunteers, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Kolar Gold Fields Volunteer Rifles on 27 June 1907. He was promoted to Lieutenant in May 1909 and Captain in July 1915. He was awarded the Volunteer Long Service Medal, published in I.A.O. 493 of May 1917 and the Indian Volunteer Forces Officers’ Decoration, published in the Gazette of India of 1 September 1923. On 1 April 1925 Thomas was promoted to Major. With copied research.