Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The fine Tibet C.B. pair awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel M. A. Kerr, Commanding 8th Gurkha Rifles throughout the campaign

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamels, complete with ribbon buckle; Tibet 1903-04, 1 clasp, Gyantse (Lieut. Col: M. A. Kerr. 8th Gurkha Rifles) mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (2) £3000-3500

C.B. London Gazette 16.12.1904 Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Ancrum Kerr, Indian Army, 'In recognition of services with the Tibet Mission Escort.'

Mark Ancrum Kerr, C.B., was born on 2 May 1859, the second son of William Walter Raleigh Kerr, Treasurer of Mauritius, and the great-grandson of the 5th Marquis of Lothian. He was commissioned Ensign in the Leicestershire Regiment on 13 August 1879, and transferred to the Indian Army in December 1881. He was advanced to Captain in 1890, and to Major, 8th Gurkhas, in 1899, becoming Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and Regimental Commandant in March 1902. Kerr commanded his regiment during the Tibet Mission Escort, 1904, and they distinguished themselves in particular during the capture of Niani and the storming of Gyantse, when Lieutenant Grant won the Victoria Cross for his gallantry.

The Tibet campaign was very challenging for a number of reasons, as these operations ‘had to be carried out in the face of exceptional national and climatic difficulties. The theatre of operations was on the whole singularly barren and sterile...the operations had to be carried out at an average altitude of 14,000 feet, while the troops had more than once to fight at altitudes of 17,000 to 18,000 feet... The roads also were execrable and their improvement when the soil was frost-bound a work of extreme labour.' (Brigadier-General J. R. L. Macdonald, C.B., Commanding Tibet Mission Escort, despatch of 9 September 1904 refers).

Kerr and his men were heavily involved in the third phase of operations in the advance to Gyantse and then to Lhasa, 13th June to 3rd August, 'the enemy had by this time collected against us a force of 16,000 men. They had several small cannon, some 30 jingals and wall pieces, and 800 breech-loaders, while the balance were armed with matchlocks. They were distributed as follows:

At Gyantse 8,000; at Niani, holding the Kangma-Gyantse road 800; at Niru, 15 miles east of Kangma and guarding the Kangma-Ralung road, 800; at Gubshi, 18 miles east of Gyantse and guarding the Lhasa road, 1,200; at Tsechen, guarding the Gyantse-Shigatse road, 1,200, with a support of 2,500 men at Dongtse. All these bodies held strongly fortified positions, and a further force of 1,500 was at or en route to Kharola, which was also fortified.

On the 23rd June I detailed 500 infantry with 2 guns and 50 mounted troops to attack Niru. The enemy, however, hastily withdrew and retired.... The same day I occupied the outlet of the Zamdang Gorge with 250 men who entrenched themselves.

On the 24th the first-named detachment rejoined, and on the 25th June the march on Gyantse was resumed and the enemy located in a strong position at Niani where they had been reinforced from Gyantse. On the 26th June the enemy were driven from Niani after a sharp action... and Gyantse was reached the same day.' (Ibid)

Kerr was present for the action at Niani, a fortified monastery just beyond the Red Idol Gorge. The monastery was captured after an intense four-hour fight. The tents of the relief force where pitched on the evening of the 26th June on the plane before Gyantse Fort. The main assault on Gyantse was launched in the small hours of the 6th July, 'three columns of infantry feeling their way in the darkness through the fringe of gardens and mean suburbs round the base of the great rock on which the Fort stood.' (Bayonets to Lhasa, P. Fleming refers)

Having reached an impasse by the early afternoon, 'Colonel Campbell of the 40th Pathans, in command of the storming parties, put up with some urgency a plan for an assault on the eastern corner of the Fort, below which it appeared that the rock, slightly less precipitous than elsewhere, might prove scaleable... Soon after 1500 hours the ten-pounders went into action against the thick walls of the Fort where they overlooked this daunting approach-route.... round after round shreiked through the sunlight to burst with admired precision on the target, and soon, through the cloud of dust made by their impact, the fascinated onlookers could see a black and steadily widening hole appear in the great stone bastion above them.

Presently a dull explosion was heard from inside the Fort as a powder-magazine went up. The Tibetan fire, which had been furious, immediately slackened off, and two companies - one from the 8th Gurkhas, the other from the Royal Fusiliers - debouched from Palla, charged across open ground to the base of the rock and began to climb.

The Gurkhas, much apter for this sort of work than the Fusiliers, led the way. As they clambered painfully upwards the guns still pounded at their objective, dislodging masses of masonry which crashed and slithered down the semi-precipice, taking some of the climbers with them. More rocks were hurled by the defenders. Muskets enfiladed them from out-jutting turrets.

But the Gurkhas went on, and at last their commander, Lieutenant Grant, his havildar and a handful of men reached a point immediately below the breach. Further progress could be made only by one man at a time, crawling on hands and knees. From the plain bugles sounded the cease-fire; the guns fell silent, and Grant went up. In the mouth of the breach he was hit by a bullet. So was the havildar, close behind him. Both men glissaded down the rock for a distance of thirty feet. They picked themselves up and went at it again. The watchers below saw them disappear into the reeking cavern, followed by the riflemen at their heels. Almost immediately there were signs that Tibetan resistance was at an end. Bent figures were seen dodging away along the battlements; the jingals ceased to boom; here and there ropes were dangled from embrasures and men slid down them, seeking shelter in the warren on buildings to the north of the rock, as yet untouched by war. There was no more fighting.' (Ibid)

Six companies of Kerr's regiment proceeded to Lhasa and the Forbidden City was taken. Kerr was awarded the C.B. for the campaign, Mentioned in Macdonald's Despatches (London Gazette 13 April 1904) and advanced Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 June 1904, becoming Colonel on 6 June 1907. Colonel Kerr died unmarried on 19 November 1941.