Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1885-7 (Captn. R. G. Macdonald 2d. Punjab Vol. Rifles) edge bruising, small scratch marks to top of reverse field, very fine and rare to unit £400-£500

Robert Graham Macdonald was born in 1844 and served in the Public Works Department of India from 1863, rising to be the Examiner of Railway Accounts and Assistant Accountant General of Calcutta. He served in Burma with the 2nd Punjab Volunteer Rifle Corps (Simla Rifles). He was subsequently appointed President of the Public Accounts Committee in October 1888, and held several other appointments, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Secretary of India in 1893. He retired to England in 1897 and died in Plymouth on 13 November 1904.

Raised in 1861, the Simla Rifles attracted some notable ‘India hands’ to its ranks, mainly drawn from the Secretariat in the Raj’s Summer Capital.