Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part II)

The fine campaign group of four to General W. E. Mulcaster, Bengal Cavalry, who commanded the first and unsuccessful expedition to Bhootan in 1865

(a) Cabul 1842, unnamed as issued, fitted with original steel clip and bar suspension

(b) Sutlej 1845-46, for Moodkee 1845, 2 clasps, Ferozeshuhur, Sobraon (Lieut. W. E. Mulcaster, 64th Regt. N.I.)

(c) Punjab 1848-49, 1 clasp, Mooltan (Capt. W. E. Mulcaster, 7th Irregular Cavy.)

(d) India General Service 1854-94, 2 clasps, North West Frontier, Bhootan (Bt. Lt. Col. W. E. Mulcaster, 5th Bengal Cavy.) all fitted with silver ribbon buckles, very fine or better (4) £2500-3000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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William Edward Mulcaster was born on 29 September 1820. He was the eldest son of Captain Sir William Howe Mulcaster, R.N., and Sophia, the eighth daughter of Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt. He was nominated for his Cadetship by H. St. G. Tucker, Esq., on the recommendation of his father. He entered Addiscombe in 1835, and the following year, received an immediate posting to the Bengal Infantry. He did duty with the 9th N.I. at Barrackpore, and the 15th N.I. and the 28th N.I., before reporting to the 64th N.I. In July 1840, he was attached to the Assam Sebundy Corps, then a highly irregular unit, which ultimately evolved into the 2/8th Gurkha Rifles. The next year he rejoined his regiment and proceeded with it to Afghanistan. He was severely wounded at the forcing of the Khyber Pass in April 1842 (London Gazette 7 June1842) on account of which he afterwards received a gratuity of twelve months pay. He returned to duty, in February 1843, as Adjutant of his corps. During the Sutlej campaign, Mulcaster was present at the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshuhur in December 1845, and at Sobraon in February 1846. In October 1846, he was posted Adjutant and officiating 2nd in command of the 9th Irregular Cavalry (Christie’s Horse) in the absence of Lieutenant Crawford Chamberlain (qv) who was then on leave in the Cape.

Following the murders of Vans Agnew and Anderson at Mooltan in April 1848, Mulcaster, then serving with the 7th Bengal Irregular Cavalry joined the scratch force under Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes which temporarily confined the Sikh revolt to the south west Punjab. In July, he joined the force under General W.S. Whish which had been despatched from Lahore to invest Mooltan. But at length Whish was obliged to abandon the siege and pitch camp astride the dry Wadi Mohammed Canal in the neighbouring country. In early November, the Mooltanis established two batteries on the eastern side of the canal at an uncomfortably close range to the two parts of the British camp. Whish constructed counter batteries to deal with them, and laid plans for an assault to be carried out on the 7th by his European troops against the Mooltani’s left flank. On the evening of the 6th, Mulcaster, together with a picquet drawn from his regiment, and two allied Sikh regiments were sent to relieve the British troops protecting the batteries thus freeing them for the assault. However, during the night the allied Sikhs deserted to the enemy, leaving the task of guarding the guns, which were attacked next day, to Mulcaster. As the senior officer present in command of the 7th Cavalry in the trenches he was credited with repulsing the enemy’s assaults and driving them back. For his services during the siege of Mooltan, he was rewarded with a Brevet Majority (London Gazette 2 August 1850).

In January 1852, he was appointed to the command of the 7th Irregular Cavalry and was subsequently employed with one squadron, in November 1853, in a punitive expedition, under Colonel S. B. Boileau, against the Bori Afridis. The 7th Bengal Irregular Cavalry remained loyal during the Mutiny, and emerged from the reorganization of the Army in 1861 as the 5th Bengal Cavalry. In April 1858, Mulcaster commanded the Cavalry Brigade employed in the field force, under Sir Sydney Cotton (see Lot 41), which marched into the Yusafzai Valley and destroyed Sittana.

He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1863 and the next year was appointed Brigadier-General in Assam. In December 1864, in response to continual raiding into British territory by the Bhootanis and insults to a British mission under the Hon. Ashley Eden, Mulcaster was appointed to the command of the Bhootan Field Force of four columns, which was sent into the mountainous territory on the borders of Tibet. The four columns advanced and overcame the slight resistance from the Bhootanis armed with matchlocks, bows and arrows, stones and other primitive weapons. But, with the end of the campaign apparently in sight, the Bhootanis attacked the British garrison at Dewangiri in February 1865, forcing the troops under Colonel Campbell to evacuate the post. The retreat over difficult terrain became a rout. The native troops panicked, the wounded and sick were left behind and force’s two guns were abandoned and thrown into a ravine. Elsewhere overwhelming numbers of Bhootanis inflicted defeats on Mulcaster’s widely spread command, and this coupled with news of the reverse at Dewangiri, prompted the authorities at Calcutta to withdraw the expedition, and ultimately despatch a second Bhootan Field Force under Brigadier-General Sir Harry Tombs V.C., K.C.B.

Mulcaster was advanced to Major-General in 1866 and, in 1867, he relinquished his final appointment, the command of the Agra Brigade. He was made General in 1877, and was placed on the supernumerary list in 1881. General Mulcaster died at 3 Portland Place, Bath, on 4 February 1887.

Refs: Hodson Index (NAM); Modern English Biography (Boase); IOL L/MIL/10/38; IOL L/MIL/10/75; IOL L/MIL/10/31.