Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria including the collection to Naval Artificers formed by JH Deacon

A rare Afghanistan I.O.M. group of three awarded to Duffadar Yakute, Corps of Guides Cavalry, for conspicuous gallantry at Fattehabad when Major Wigram Battye was killed and Lieutenant Walter Hamilton won the Victoria Cross

Indian Order of Merit, 3rd class, the reverse officially engraved '3rd Class Order of Merit' with silver ribbon buckle; Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Sowar, Corps of Guides); India General Service 1895-1902, 3 clasps, Relief of Chitral 1895, Malakand 1897, Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (855 Duffdr., Q.O. Corps of Guides) enamel mostly lacking from I.O.M., contact wear and pitting, therefore fine (3) £3500-4500

Ex DNW 2 December 1892.

Sowar Yakute was one of six men of the Guides Cavalry to be awarded the Order of Merit for conspicuous gallantry displayed in the action against the Khugiana tribes near Fattehabad, on the 2nd April, 1879 (G.O.C.C. 533 of 1879). Sowar Yakute (variously spelt as Yakut and Yakub) was severely wounded in this action. The following narrative of this famous engagement was extracted from 'The Story of the Guides' by G. J. Younghusband:

‘It is not intended to follow the Guides through all the phases of the Afghan War, but only to tell the story of some of their gallant adventures. One of the earliest of these was at the little battle of Fattehabad where Wigram Battye was killed and Walter Hamilton earned the Victoria Cross. A small force consisting of portions of the 10th Hussars, Guides' cavalry, 17th Foot, forty-five Sikhs, together with a battery of horse-artillery, were sent on from Jellalabad, as an advance force to clear the road to Kabul. About twelve miles out, at the village of Fattehabad, General Gough was suddenly threatened in flank by a great gathering of Afghan tribesmen. Acting on the principle that in dealing with Asiatics it is always wise, whatever the odds, to attack, instead of waiting the onslaught, the General moved out rapidly with the cavalry and horse-artillery, and ordered the infantry to follow as quickly as possible. Getting in touch with the enemy, the horse-artillery came into action but their fire, good and accurate as it might be, was not sufficient to stay the determined advance of large bodies of blood-thirsty and fanatical ghazis. The General, therefore, ordered the cavalry to charge, the two regiments acting independently under their own commanders.

Major Wigram Battye was commanding the squadron of the Guides' cavalry launched to the attack, but ere he had proceeded a few hundred yards a bullet hit him in the left hip, and the squadron, under Hamilton, swept on, leaving him still in the saddle, though in great pain and supported by his orderly. “Take 'em on Walter, my boy,” were his leader's last words; and right manfully did he obey them. The plain over which they were advancing was somewhat undulating, covered with loose stones, and intersected here and there by more or less formidable nullahs. Across this not very promising cavalry country Hamilton made good way, and was now close enough to the enemy to give the order, “Gallop, Charge!” With the wild yell which so often, before and since, has struck chill to the heart of an enemy, the Guides dashed forward, the ground scouts checking back for the squadron to come up to them; but just as contact was imminent, a warning signal came from one of these that there was impassable ground in front. Here was a dilemma! Large masses of the enemy firing heavily close in front, an obstacle impassable for cavalry between, the guns uncomfortably threatened close by, and the infantry still some way off. Happily, however, it takes a good deal to stop a brave young Irishman with such men behind him. A second or two brought them to the obstacle, and sure enough it was no cold-blooded chance: a sheer nine foot drop into the dry bed of a stream, and opposite, with only a few yards interval, another sheer cliff, and on top of that an exulting and frenzied enemy! Without a moment's hesitation Hamilton jumped into the gulf, and after him, scrambling, sliding, jumping, anyhow and nohow, like a pack of hounds, streamed his fierce following. Like hounds, too, hot on the trail, they tarried not a moment there, but scattering up and down the nullah singly, or in clumps of two or three found egress somehow.

And then came death and the Prophet's Paradise to many a brave soul. From here and there, from front and right and left, by ones and twos, by threes and fours, charged home the gallant horsemen; and at their head, alone with his trumpeter, rode Hamilton. So rough and determined an onslaught would shake the nerves of even disciplined troops; but undrilled and undisciplined levies, however brave individually, cannot hope to stand the fiery blast of determined cavalry charging home. And so the great crowd broke, and for four long miles the pursuit continued, till man and horse alike were worn and tired, and arms became too stiff to strike or parry, and steeds yet willing staggered to a standstill. In this brilliant charge the enemy lost four hundred men, while the squadron of the Guides lost twenty of all ranks and thirty-seven horses. To Walter Hamilton was awarded the Victoria Cross, and to six of his men the Order of Merit for conspicuous gallantry where all were gallant.