Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Major E. S. Hill, Royal Engineers

India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, Jowaki 1877-8, Burma 1889-92 (Lieut. E. Hill, Royal Engrs.), second clasp loose on ribbon; Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Kabul (Lieut. E. S. Hill, R.E.) minor contact marks, good very fine (2) £800-900

Edmund Stephen Hill was born in Welton, Northamptonshire on 24 February 1851 and commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in December 1871. He first saw service in the Jowaki expedition of 1877-78, commanding the 3rd Company Bengal Sappers and Miners in the Peshawar column commanded by Brigadier-General G. C. G. Ross. Service in the Afghan war of 1878-80 followed, commanding the 5th Company Bengal Sappers and Miners serving in the Kandahar column. In the first phase of the campaign, the 5th Company were involved in road building in the Khojak and Ghwazha Passes, bridge building over the River Helmand and building works in Kandahar. In the second phase, the 5th Company served with the Kyber Field Force under Major-General R. O. Bright in the advance to Kabul. For his services in the war , Hill was mentioned in despatches ( in the Field Force Orders by G.O.C. Peshawar Field Force, 3 January 1878; in unpublished despatch by General Biddulph, 16 May 1879 and specially mentioned in despatches of Sir D. Stewart, 24 June 1879.). Promoted Captain in December 1883, he served in the Poukhan expedition in Burma, April-May 1889, under Brigadier-General G. B. Wolseley and the Chin-Lushai expedition, November 1889-April 1890, under Brigadier-General W. Symons. In the latter he commanded the Burma Sapper Company. In the Indian Sappers and Miners by Sandes, it was written of them, ‘When Captain E. S. Hill, R.E., was in command in 1889, the men were extraordinarily good at field work, especially in the use of bamboos for bridging, hutting and stockading. They were devoid, however, of military instinct and could not understand discipline. If a man felt ill he returned without permission to his village, and if there was an important cock-fight in the neighbourhood, he attended it as a matter of course ... He seemed to consider that a cock-fight was ample excuse for absence from the morning parade’. Hill attained the rank of Major in June 1890 and retired from the corps on 16 March 1892. He died at Start Hill, Bishop’s Stortford, on 7 April 1933.

Sold with a copied record of service which lists his medal entitlement as, ‘Indian Medal with clasp for Jowaki Expedition, Medal for Afghanistan 1878-9-80 with clasp for Kabul, Clasp for Burma 1887-9 and Clasp for Chin-Lushai 1889-90’.