Orders, Decorations and Medals

Army of India 1799-1826, 2 clasps, Nagpore, Ava (J. Spiller, 1st Foot) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming, good very fine £1600-1800

147 clasps for Nagpore issued to Europeans, including 95 to the 1st Foot, of which 48 also had the clasp for Ava, and one also had clasps for Maheidpoor and Ava. The 1st Foot were the only British regiment present at Nagpore.

James Spiller was born in the Parish of Yercomb, Devon, and attested for the 1st Regiment of Foot at Taunton on 1 may 1810, aged thirteen years. He served in the East Indies from July 1816 to October 1831, during which period he was present at the capture of Nagpore, 16 December 1817, and throughout the war in Burma, 1824-26. It would appear from his service papers that he took a liking to the bottle in his later days, being tried and imprisoned on no less than seven occasions between January 1833 and October 1834. He was finally discharged on 10 October 1834, ‘his constitution being so much destroyed by the abuse of Spiritous Liquors and his Length of Service‘. Sold with copy service papers.