Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Punjab 1848-49, 2 clasps, Mooltan, Goojerat (Captn. G. W. S. Hicks, 8th Bengal N.I.) fitted with silver ribbon buckle, light edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise very fine £600-£800

George William Scott Hicks was born at Saharunpore, Bengal, on 15 November 1819, son of Lieutenant George Morland Hicks, 9th Bengal N.I. He was appointed Ensign on 12 December 1839; Captain, 7 March 1846. On arrival in India, he was appointed to the 15th Native Infantry and later to the 28th Regiment. He qualified as an interpreter while doing duty with the 8th Regiment at Meerut and was exempted from further examination in native languages. He then served as Interpreter and Quartermaster to the 25th Regiment. While still a Lieutenant, he was appointed as Assistant to the Superintendent of the Tributary Mehals in Cuttack, his duties being the suppression of human sacrifice and female infanticide in the hill tracts of Orissa.

The practise of human sacrifice was discovered by Mr Russell of the Madras Civil Service who found its existence among the Khonds in the Goomsur district, in 1836. He drew official notice to the matter in a report to the Madras Government in August of that year. The victims were purchased from neighbouring tribes and were paid for in brass utensils, cattle or corn. Criminals or prisoners of war were considered unsuitable, so the ‘Meriah’ or victim had to be purchased. The sacrifice took place annually, and was offered to ‘Thadha Penoo’ (the earth) represented by the effigy of a peacock. On the day preceding the sacrifice, the victim, intoxicated by toddy, was seated at the foot of a post bearing the peacock effigy. The devotees then spent the day in dancing, feasting and singing. On the following day, the victim was again intoxicated and then anointed with oil. Each individual present touched the anointed part and then wiped the oil on his own head. A procession with musicians leading was formed and the victim, together with a pole surmounted with peacock feathers, travelled round the village boundaries. On arrival at the village deity, ‘Zakaree Penoo’, represented by three stones, a hog was sacrificed, and its blood allowed to flow into a previously prepared pit. The human sacrifice was then seized and flung into the pit, and its face pressed down until it suffocated in the bloody mire. Flesh was then cut from the victim’s body and buried in the adjoining villages, near to the village idols. This revolting practise was eventually suppressed by the Government of India, together with that of sutee and thugee.

Hocks was then appointed Superintendent of Police in Calcutta, 21 November 1845, an appointment he held until his promotion to the rank of Captain and the outbreak of war in the Punjab. He was directed to rejoin his regiment and served through the siege operations of Mooltan and the battle of Goojerat. After a period of sickness, Hicks returned to regimental duty and on 29 January 1851 was appointed as second in command of the Mhaiwarrah Battalion. While serving in this capacity, he died at Nusseerabad on 22 October 1851.