Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

China 1857-60, 2 clasps, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860 (Lieut. W. G. Chalmers. 23rd Regt. Punjab Pioneers) officially impressed naming, fitted with silver ribbon buckle, good very fine £600-£800

William Gordon Chalmers was born on 30 April 1835, third son of Charles Chalmers, Esq., of Monkshill, county Aberdeen. appointed Ensign on 5 April 1854, and promoted to Lieutenant on 27 January 1857. He served under General Chamberlain in the expedition to Upper Meeranzaie and Koorum, against the Hill Tribes, Zymosht, Wuzeerees, and Torees, in 1856. Present at Rawal Pindee in July 1857, when the 58th Native Infantry and 2 Companies 14th Native Infantry were disarmed, part of which mutinied. Served with Colonel Davidson’s Column in pursuit of the 62nd and 69th Regiments in the Googaira District, September 1858. Served in the China Campaign in 1860. Present at the landing, 1st August, and occupation of Pehtang, 2nd August; at the affair, 3rd August; battle of Sinho, 12th August; capture of Tonghu, 14th August; Taku Forts, 21st August; action of Chauk Kiawung, 18th September; action of Tungchow, 21st September; advance on Pekin, 6th October; and final surrender of that city (Medal and 2 Clasps).

Chalmers was appointed Adjutant of the 23rd Punjab Pioneers from 30 January 1862. In November 1863, as Officiating Second-in-Command, he accompanied the regiment to Yusafzai on service, and he was present with it throughout the closing stages of the Umbeyla Campaign, including the capture of Lalu, the expulsion of the enemy from the Conical Hill, and the severe action at the mouth of the Buner Pass, in which last he succeeded to the command of the regiment on Colonel Chamberlain falling severely wounded. On the conclusion of the campaign he accompanied the regiment to Peshawar, arriving there early in January 1864. He was appointed Officiating Second-in-Command of the 29th Punjab Infantry in November 1864, which regiment he joined at Hamirpur, and in December accompanied it to Barrackpore, but in March 1865 ill-health compelled him to go home on furlough on medical certificate. He returned to India in March 1868, and in June was appointed Officiating Wing Officer in the 41st Native Infantry, stationed at Agra, but two months later he was compelled by ill-health to proceed to the hills, and then the end came. He died at Kasauli, while on the way to Simla, on 21 August 1868.

Sold with lengthy biography copied from Soldiers of the Raj.