Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Army of India Medal awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel W. Rutherford, Indian Army, who accompanied Crawfurd’s mission to Siam and Cochin-China 1821-23

Army of India 1799-1826, 1 clasp, Ava (Lieut. W. Rutherford, 28th N.I.), short hyphen reverse, officially engraved naming, edge bruise, good very fine £800-1000

Walter Rutherford was born in Jedburgh in July 1801, the son of Captain John Rutherford, 42nd Highlanders, afterwards a Major in the Dumfries Militia, and his second wife Agnes, daughter of J. Chatto of Mainhouse. On completing his education at Edinburgh University, Walter was appointed a Cadet in the H.E.I.C’s Army in 1819 and was posted to the 1st Battalion, 14th Bengal Native Infantry.

Siam and Cochin-China 1821-23

In 1821, the Governor-General of India, Lord Hastings, who was interested in learning more about Siamese policy with regard to the northern Malay states, and Cochin-China's policy with regard to French efforts to establish a presence in Asia, sent a special mission to the courts of both regions. He chose as the leader of the mission John Crawfurd, the noted Scottish Colonial Administrator who had already served in H.E.I.C. missions to the East Indies, most notably alongside Stamford Raffles in Java.

Crawfurd, travelling with notes from Horace Hayman Wilson on Buddhism, was accompanied by Captain Dangerfield, a skilful astronomer, surveyor and geologist, and the noted naturalist George Finlayson, who acted as the mission’s medical officer. For security, they were accompanied by a force of 30 Sepoys under Walter Rutherford.

On 21 November 1821, the mission embarked on the John Adam for the complicated and difficult navigation of the Hoogly river, taking seven days to sail the 140 miles from Calcutta to open water. Thence the John Adam proceeded on what would be the first official visit to Siam since the Anglo-Siam War of 1687 and the resurgence of Siam following the Burmese–Siamese War of 1765–1767. Crawfurd soon found the court of King Rama II still embroiled in the aftermath of the Burmese–Siamese War of 1809–1812. On 8 December 1821, near Papra Strait, Crawfurd found fishermen ‘in a state of perpetual distrust and insecurity’ due to territorial disputes between hostile Burmans and Siamese. On 11 December, after entering the Straits of Malacca and arrival at Penang Island, he found the settlements of Penang and Queda in a state of alarm - Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II, the Rajah of Quedah, had fled the Rajah of Ligor to claim right of asylum at Prince of Wales's Island; the British claim to the island was based upon payment of a quit-rent accordant with European feudal law, which Crawfurd feared the Siamese would challenge.

Crawfurd's journal entry for 1 April 1822, notes that the Siamese, for their part, were especially interested in the acquisition of arms. Pointedly questioned in this regard in a urgent private meeting with the Prah-klang (future Rama III), the reply was, ‘that if the Siamese were at peace with the friends and neighbours of the British nation, they would certainly be permitted to purchase fire-arms and ammunition at our ports, but not otherwise.’ On 19 May, a Chief of Lao - the soon to be rebel Chao Anu - met with Crawfurd, a ‘first’ diplomatic contact for the U.K. His visit was despite the isolation into which the mission had fallen, for a Vietnamese embassy had arrived not long before and tensions were high. Since Crawford's brief opposed the interests of court figures including the Raja of Ligor and Nangklao, there was little prospect of success and, by October, relations were at a low ebb. Having then moved on to Saigon, where Minh Mạng refused to see him, Crawfurd’s mission ended with his transferral to Singapore as the British Resident.

Rutherford was advanced to Lieutenant in July 1823.

First Burma War and beyond

Transferring to the 28th Native Infantry in May 1824, he saw action in the Arakan in the First Burma War and was appointed Adjutant of his unit in July 1825 (Medal & clasp). Having then gained advancement to Captain in October 1831, he returned to the U.K. on extended furlough.

Back in India by the mid-1830s, Rutherford assumed command of the 28th Native Infantry in the rank of Major in December 1841, but became Officiating Assistant Secretary to the Government Military Department in Bengal in early 1842 and Second Assistant Military Secretary on the Military Board in June 1843.

Next appointed Assistant to the Civil Architect at the Presidency, he served as Executive Officer in Charge of circular and eastern canals from February 1845 to January 1852. Advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in the latter year, and having enjoyed further furlough back home, Rutherford returned to India in in late 1854, when he was appointed to the command of the 11th Native Infantry. He died at Allahabad in May 1856 and was interred in Kydgani Cemetery.

Rutherford married Margaret, daughter of Captain Knight, R.N., of Gordonstoun, Perth, in 1835; she died at Napier, New Zealand, in May 1887.