Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Durand Medal group of seven awarded to Honorary Captain Akbar Ali, Sardar Bahadur, late Subadar Major, 1st K.G.O. Sappers & Miners, winner of the Sword of Honour and awarded the R.V.M. for services at the Delhi Durbar of 1911

India General Service 1854-95, 3 clasps, Sikkim 1888, Hazara 1891, Waziristan 1894-95 (3717 Sapper, Bl. Sappers & Miners); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1908 (Subdr., No. 2 Co. 1st S. & M.); Royal Victorian Medal, G.V.R., Silver (No. 3717 Sub., 1st S. & Miners) privately named; Delhi Durbar 1911, silver, named as before; The Durand Medal, bronze but sometime very effectively silvered (Subadar Majr Akbar Ali, 1st K.G.O. S. & M. 1915) the last with test scratching in reverse field, otherwise generally very fine £500-600

The Durand Medal was an annual award to an Indian officer, N.C.O. or Sapper of the Indian Sappers and Miners who had distinguished himself as a soldier and a sapper by good and efficient service. The prize originated in 1876, when a fund was raised by R.E. officers at home and in India to commemorate the memory of Major-General Sir Henry Durand, K.C.S.I., C.B., of the Bengal Engineers. The design on the medal commemorates one of the first acts of his military career when he blew in the gate of the Ghazni fort in 1839. The Trust Fund is controlled by the Institution of Royal Engineers and since partition the medal has been awarded on the basis of two years to the Indian Engineers to one year to the Royal Pakistan Engineers on the advice of their respective Engineers-in-Chief.

Akbar Ali joined the Bengal Sappers and Miners on 12 June 1886, was promoted to Jemadar in October 1903, to Subadar in November 1907, and to Subadar-Major in March 1914. In addition to the campaign medals listed above he is also entitled to the I.G.S. 1895-1902 with clasps for Punjab Frontier 1897-98 and Tirah 1897-98. He was awarded the Silver R.V.M. on 2 January 1912, for services during His Majesty’s visit to India for the Durbar. Promoted from the 2nd to the 1st Class of the Order of British India in June 1918, Akbar Ali retired in July 1920 with the honorary British rank of Captain. He is still shown on the retired list in 1942.

Five medals in the group, as described