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

A fine silver striking of the unique Gold Medal presented by the East India Company to Lieutenant and Brevet Major Herbert Edwardes, C.B., for his services in the Punjab in 1848

Honourable East India Company’s Edwardes Medal 1848, by W. Wyon R.A., obv. diademed bust of Queen Victoria left; rev. inscription, ‘From the East India Company to Lieut. & Brevt. Major H. B. Edwardes C.B., for his services in the Punjab A.D. MDCCCXLVIII’, a fine silver striking of the unique gold medal, 45mm., fitted with scroll suspension, extremely fine £300-400

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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In 1850, when word reached England of the exploits of Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes in bringing order to the wild inhabitants of Bannu and uniting them against Mulraj, whom he had defeated in a series of actions in 1848, he became a household name, and the Court of Directors elected to reward his highly cost-effective services with a ‘special gold medal’, the design of which was entrusted to Wyon. On the obverse is the head of Queen Victoria, ‘the fountain of all honour’, and on the reverse the Edwardes family arms surmount the inscription, ‘To Lieutenant Herbert Benjamin Edwardes, Brevet-Major and C.B., for his services in the Punjab, 1848’. The inscription is flanked by the figures of Valour and Victory, and beneath the inscription, the figure of the infant Hercules (emblematic of Edwardes’ youth) strangles the serpent. The medal was intended as a unique honour and instructions were issued from the Court that once struck, the die was to be broken, but these instructions were evidently not obeyed. Edwardes received the medal from the hands of the Chairman, John Shepherd, at a formal presentation held at East India House, Leadenhall Street, on 12 February 1851. In his short address Shepherd ‘confidently’ anticipated that ‘the same energy, skill, and bravery would distinguish’ Edwardes’ future career. Unfortunately, Edwardes, a man who worked at ‘white heat’, became fanatical after the Mutiny and ‘wished to give no recognition to either Hinduism or Islam.’

Ref: Memorials of the Life and Letters of Sir Herbert Edwardes (Mrs Edwardes).