Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Hunza 1891 casualty to Driver Umar Singh, No. 4 (Hazara) Mountain Battery

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hunza 1891 (133 Driver Umar Singh No. 4 (Hazara) Mt. By.) extremely fine £1,400-£1,800

Driver Umer Singh was mortally wounded and died the same day as a result of the action on 3 December 1891, when, having taken Nilt Fort by assault on the previous day, the column advanced rapidly in the hope that swift action would prevent the re-assembly of enemy tribesmen.

But, overnight, the tribesmen had already re-occupied and strengthened their sangars and in the face of severe opposition, the advance had to be abandoned; for no less than 17 days, Durand’s column was forced to stay where it was at Nilt Fort before it could again (and in the end successfully) try to fight its way through. Hunza and Nagar were occupied in the 21st and 22nd December, which effectively ended the campaign.

Only one section of No. 4 Mountain Battery, comprising 2 Officers and 76 men, accompanied Lieutenant-Colonel A. G. A. Durand’s force to Hunza-Nagar in 1891. The sheer feat of getting the 7-pounder guns through the Karakorum mountains was an achievement in itself.

Of the eight casualties on 3 December, five were in the 4th Mountain Battery - one officer wounded, one gunner killed, one gunner wounded and two drivers wounded (including Umar Singh mortally); three men of 1/5th Gurkhas were also wounded that day, two of them mortally.

Sold with copied London Gazette report on operations of the Hunza-Nagar Field Force with full casualty list.