Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1854-95, 3 clasps, Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89, Kachin Hills 1892-93 (Lieutt. H. Parkin Bo: S.C.) clasps mounted in reverse order, edge nicks, otherwise good very fine and rare £600-£800

Henry Parkin was born on 10 December 1858, and was originally commissioned into the 65th Regiment on 1 May 1878.

Transferring as a Lieutenant into the Bombay Staff Corps in March 1882, he served in the Zhob Valley Expedition of 1884 and in the Burma operations of 1886-87, and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 2 September 1887), in addition to receiving the Medal with two clasps. Back in action on the Burma front as a Captain between 1892-93, Parkin served in the operations in the Kachin Hills and received the thanks of the Government of India, Foreign Department (Letter No. 60, dated 21 November 1893, refers).

Appointed A.D.C. to the Lieutenant Governor of Burma in May 1897, and advanced to Major in May 1898, Parkin became a Deputy Lieutenant-General in the Burma Military Police at Rangoon in the latter year. By 1901 he was officiating as Inspector-General of Police in Burma and in May 1904 he was advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel. Qualified to the ‘higher standard’ in Arabic and Persian, he finally retired in December 1913, having been appointed a C.I.E. (London Gazette 25 January 1909).