Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Natal 1906, no clasp (Pte. Alwar, Indian Stret. Bearer Corps) nearly extremely fine, rare £500-600

A total of twenty Natal Medals were awarded to members of the Indian Stretcher Bearer Corps.

The Indian Bearer Corps was raised by Mahatma Gandhi from his fellow countrymen in Durban. The original unit had been raised for the Boer War and was later expanded to be called the Imperial Bearer Corps. Gandhi later in life refused to discuss his involvement in either of these wars. Gandhi had written from Johannesburg to the Governor of Natal offering Indian aid in the belief that ‘The British Empire existed for the world and in a genuine sense of loyalty’. After some hesitation the Natal government invited them to accompany the white troops as an Ambulance Corps. The twenty five stretcher bearers, under Sergeant Major M. K. Gandhi, were provided and paid for by the Natal Indian Congress. Gandhi later led the Freedom Movement in India and was assassinated on 30 January 1948.