Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Captain J. S. B. Forde, 122nd Rajputana Infantry and 153rd Punjabis, Indian Army

British War Medal 1914-20 (Capt. J. S. B. Forde.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (Lieut. J. S. B. Forde.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (Lieut. J. B. S. [sic] Forde, 2/153/Punjabis.) mounted as worn, good very fine (3) £140-180

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2002.

John Stuart Beresford Forde was born on 16 December 1898 and was commissioned into the Indian Army on 30 January 1917, after graduating from the Cadet College at Quetta. Placed on the Indian Army Unattached List, he was attached first to the 120th Rajputana Rifles before, on 24 May 1917, transferring to the 122nd Rajputana Infantry, which was by then in Mesopotamia. He joined the Regiment in the field on 24 September of that year, and continued to serve with them until 15 December 1918, when he transferred back to the Regimental depot for duty, being promoted Lieutenant on 30 January 1918. During this time, the 122nd Rajputana Infantry carried out routine and uneventful lines-of-communication duties along the Tigris River.
 
On 12 June 1919, after being in India for six months, Forde was attached to the 2/153rd Punjabis, and served as a company commander with the Regiment during the Third Afghan War of 1919. The following April he was appointed to the Indian Signal Service, and served with 'C' Divisional Signals. He was promoted Captain on 30 January 1921, before retiring from the Indian Army on 1 April 1923.

A few years later, Forde began a new career as a physician. In April 1927 he passed the entrance examination of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of England in the field of anatomy and physiology. He then attended Manchester Medical School, and on 30 January 1931 he completed the programme, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was granted a licence to practice physiology. Soon thereafter, on 20 October 1932, he received a probationary appointment in the Indian Medical Service, and returned to military life in India. Having married, he relinquished his probationary appointment in the Indian Medical Service on 28 February 1934, and returned home to serve as resident medical officer at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, and then in general practice in Alsager, Cheshire.