Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Ensign W. J. K. Myers, 2nd Bn. Rifle Bde.) with original inscribed card box of issue, extremely fine £300-350

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Rifle Brigade and Affiliated Regiments from the collection formed by Michael Haines.

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William James Kempt Myers entered the Army as an Ensign in the Rifle Brigade on 25 January 1856, and having been posted to the 2nd Battalion, he joined the depot at Aldershot. He joined the battalion at the same place on its arrival from the Crimea in July 1856, and in June 1857 accompanied it to Dublin. On the battalion proceeding to India in August 1857 he was left at the depot at Winchester, but he followed the corps to the East in the autumn of the following year. Joining the 2nd Battalion in Oudh, he served with it in the closing operations of the Sepoy War, 1858-59, in the Trans Gagra campaign, including the affair of Darji-ki-kua, and the operations on the frontier of Nepal (Medal). On the conclusion of the campaign he accompanied the battalion to Lucknow, and on the 12th December 1859 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In the spring of the following year he proceeded with the corps to Subathu, whence in May 1860 he went on an excursion into the interior, towards the Snowy Range, and there, on the 6th of the succeeding month, he unfortunately lost his life, having been killed in an accidental fall over a precipice. His remains were brought into Simla, and there interred with military honours. (Ref Soldiers of the Raj)