Orders, Decorations and Medals

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (J. Potter, 32nd L.I.) toned, extremely fine and very rare £1400-1800

Private John Potter was massacred at Cawnpore on 27 June 1857. His wife Diana and one child are also noted on the casualty list. Only about 10 medals are known to exist to Cawnpore casualties to the 32nd Light Infantry, as in most cases they were probably never issued or their next of kin were untraceable.

John Potter was a labourer from Norfolk before enlisting into the 96th Regiment in February 1843. He sailed with the regiment for New South Wales, landing at Launceston, Tasmania, on 16 November 1843, and served at various stations in Tasmania and in Western Australia until the summer of 1849, when the regiment sailed for India. In October 1854 he volunteered for service with the 32nd Light Infantry, and in 1857 he was with the detachment under General Wheeler serving in the defence of the entrenchments at Cawnpore, where he met his death on 27 June, massacred in the boats at Sati Chowra on the banks of the river Ganges.