Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Major F. C. Griffin, Royal Artillery, who was killed in the attack on the fortified village of Ambiokh, during the Bhootan campaign, when an enemy shell hit an open gunpowder cask in the midst of his small battery, killing three officers and four gunners outright

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Lieut. F. C. Griffin Royal Artillery) contemporary engraved naming; India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, Umbeyla, Bhootan (Major F. C. Griffin. R.A.) officially impressed naming; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed, fitted with silver swivel-bar suspension, lightly polished otherwise good very fine or better (3) £800-£1,000

Frederick Cockburn Griffin was born at Budock, Cornwall, in May of June of 1832. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant on 19 December 1849; Lieutenant, 3 October 1851; Captain, 23 February 1956; Brevet Major, 5 August 1864. He served in the Crimea and was present at the final bombardment of Sebastopol and its subsequent fall. He next took part in the Umbeyla campaign of 1863 when he commanded half of ‘C’ Battery, 19 Brigade R.A. In the following year he took part in the Bhootan campaign, when he had command of the two Armstrong Mountain guns which, together with two 8-inch Mortars, accompanied the Daling Column, one of four columns formed for the expedition.

The Daling Column was the first to move off, leaving on 28 November 1864, led by Major C. J. S. Gough, V.C., and Major J. R. Pugh. On 6 December the first major attack was launched on the fortified village of Ambiokh. The village was defended by a stout stockade which, following a brisk barrage from Griffin’s combined artillery, was quickly taken.

A stiffer proposition was the heavily defended village itself, sited as it was atop a steep sloping hill. The two Armstrong 6-pounder rifled, breech-loading mountain guns were manoeuvred as closely as possible to their target and then proceeded to shell the village in support of the advancing infantry which fanned out across the steep incline. A heavy and well-directed fire was returned by the Bhootans, inflicting heavy casualties on the labouring infantrymen.

Griffin with his two Armstrong Mountain guns and the two 8-inch Mortars worked at a frantic pace in an effort to quell the fire of the very active Bhootan defenders. By quick accurate fire they managed to quieten the enemy cannons and then, tragically, either from a chance or well-directed shot from the hill-top stockade, a Bhootan shell hit one of the open gunpowder casks of the small battery. The resulting explosion wiped out Griffin’s small command in one mighty eruption.

Three of the four artillery officers, Major Griffin, Lieutenants E. A. Anderson and E. Waller, together with four of the gunners were killed outright, and Lieutenant W. H. Collins R.E. and a number of men were wounded. The objective was finally taken after a stiff fight. Seven infantrymen were killed advancing up the steep gradient and 56 wounded in this fierce little action.