Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An interesting Afghan Boundary Commission and ‘Great Game’ group of five awarded to Mr E. H. S. Clarke, C.S.I., C.I.E., Indian Political Department

The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 2nd type breast badge, gold and enamels, complete with top suspension brooch, this converted for mounting; Delhi Durbar 1903, silver, complete with ribbon buckle; Delhi Durbar 1911, silver; Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Mr. E. H. S. Clarke, Polal. Dep.); Afghanistan, Order of Hurmat, gold medal, the group on original court mounting as worn, nearly extremely fine and rare (5) £1500-2000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Richard Magor Collection of Medals Relating to India and Africa, and other Fine Awards.

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Edward Henry Scamander Clarke was born on 21 May 1856, and educated at Blackheath. He entered the service of the Gocernment of India in 1875, becoming Extra Assistant Commissioner in the Punjab. In 1880, he accompanied Mr Lepel Griffin, C.S.I., Chief Political Officer in Afghanistan, as his personal assistant on his special Political mission to Kabul. Griffin had been deputed, in February 1880, by H.E. the Viceroy of India to proceed on a special Political mission to Kabul, and from that date until the evacuation of Northern Afghanistan had entire and independent control of all political work in Northern and Eastern Afghanistan, conducting the negotiations and arrangements which resulted in the Amir Abdur Rahman Khan being placed on the throne (Medal). This was a master-stroke of diplomacy, for Abdur Rahman had for twelve years been under the protection of the Tsar of Russia and was regarded as their protégé in Afghanistan. In placing him on the throne, with the agreement that he would have no relations with any foreign power other than Britain, Abdur Rahman became a staunch ally of Britain against Russian interference in the coming years.

Clarke subsequently served on the Afghan Boundary Commission at Herat, 1884-86, and the following year went to St Petersburg for special duties at a time when Britain and Russia were on the very brink of war. This was a period great political intrigue and it is worth noting that the ‘Great Game’ was not only played by household names like Pottinger, Burns and Younghusband, but also by many of the lower-ranked political officers like Clarke. Indeed, Clarke’s ‘master’, now Sir Lepel Griffin, K.C.S.I., published his own version of events in The Great Game, in 1884.

In 1893, Clarke was a Member of the Durand Commission to Kabul and was honoured with the gold Afghan Order of Hurmat. He joined the Indian Political Department in 1894, and served in the Foreign Department Secretariat of the Government of India until his retirement in 1912. He was created a Companion of the Indian Empire in 1903, and a Companion of the Star of India in 1911. Edward Clarke retired in February 1912 and lived thereafter at Kabul House, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, where he died on 2 February 1947. See Lot 138 for the C.S.I. breast badge awarded to Clarke.