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

The K.C.B. group to Lieutenant-General Sir G. C. Whitlock, Commanding the Saugor Division of the Central India Field Force during the Mutiny

(a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Military) K.C.B., neck badge, 22 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1814, maker’s mark IN for John Northam, complete with full neck cravat with gold ribbon fitments; and breast star in silver with appliqué centre in gold and enamels, the reverse centre plate with maker’s mark WN and privately inscribed with monogram ‘GCW’ and date ‘Novr. 14th, 1859’

(b) Army of India 1799-1826, 1 clasp, Ava (Lieut. G. C. Whitlock, 36th N.I.) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming, fitted with contemporary silver ribbon brooch

(c) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Majr. Genl. Geo. C. Whitlock) fitted with contemporary silver ribbon brooch

(d) Vote of Thanks, House of Lords, 1859, on vellum embellished with the Royal Arms in gold leaf, 43 x 34mm, to the 14 senior officers of the Army and Navy ‘for the eminent skill, courage, and perseverance displayed by them during the military operations by which the late Insurrection in India has been effectually suppressed’, dated 14th April 1859, bound in red morocco with white moiré silk lining, the front cover gold embossed with Royal Arms etc., and named to ‘Major-General George Cornish Whitlock’, together with vellum letter of transmission, signed ‘Canning, Fort William, The 12th July 1859’, and noted as having been received by ‘G.C.W. Major Genl.’ at Camp, Saugor, 9 August 1859’

(e) Vote of Thanks, House of Commons, 1859, on vellum as before, dated 14th April 1859, bound in green morocco with white moiré silk lining, and with similar vellum letter of transmission, receipted as before, some scuffs to leather covers but otherwise in good condition and very rare survivals, the Bath insignia with the usual minor enamel chips, otherwise good very fine or better £6000-8000

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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George Cornish Whitlock, the son of George Whitlock of Ottery St Mary, Devon, was born in 1798 and entered the Madras Army on 4 June 1818. In November of that year he was posted Lieutenant in the 8th Madras Native Infantry, and the following year served in the closing stages of the Third Mahratta (Pindarry) War. In March 1819, he was present at the siege and capture of Copaul Droog. He served in the closing stages of the First Burma War with the 36th Madras N.I. in 1826, and, promoted Captain in 1831, commanded the Light Company when it formed part of the advance guard of Brigadier Stewart’s column at the crossing of the Cauvery River during the Coorg campaign of 1834. He was consequently present at the capture of the various fortified works on the river, and later commanded his regiment at the storming of Nunjarapetta.

He was advanced to the rank of Major in 1840, and became successively Lieutenant-Colonel of the 36th Madras N.I. in 1845; the 48th Madras N.I. in 1848; the 3rd Madras N.I. in 1849, and the 3rd Madras European Regiment in 1853. He was Commandant at Bellary in 1855, and commanded Bangalore from 8 January 1856 to 4 September 1857. Following the outbreak of the Mutiny and the consequent organisation of troops in the Madras Presidency for service in the north, Whitlock was placed in command of the Kurnool Moveable Column, and in accordance with the Sir Colin Campbell’s plan of campaign marched into Bengal in early 1858. He had frequent encounters with bodies of the enemy in Bundelkhund and on 19 April met and defeated at Bhowraghur a force of 7,000 insurgents led by the Nawab of Banda. Next day he occupied Banda and, after the arrival of reinforcements, set out to assist Sir Hugh Rose in his advance to Calpee. En route, however, he received instructions to march on Kirwee, then under the sway of two heirs of the ‘Great Peshwa’, Narrayun Rao and Madho Rao. As Whitlock’s two brigades approached they came upon several strong outposts but the formidable nature of the column caused the rebels to disperse. Kirwee was eventually entered unopposed on 6 June, and the wayward nobles taken into custody and confronted with damning evidence of a heap of sepoys kits, bearing the insignia of the most notorious native regiments, found in the palace.

Despite the bloodless nature of Whitlock’s success at Kirwee, he declared the ‘enormous treasures’ found in the city were the ‘spoils of the victors’. Somewhat surprisingly he was supported in this contention by the Indian Government and the Prize was subsequently divided, heavily in favour of the General as was customary. Whitlock duly received the thanks of the Governor-General, Lord Canning, and of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Colin Campbell, in autograph letters, as well as in General Orders, for his services in the suppression of the Mutiny in Central India. He was also mentioned in the vote of thanks of both Houses of Parliament as the officer commanding the Saugor Division by which name the Kurnool Moveable Column was known from August 1858. He was made a Knight Commander of the Bath on 16 May 1859, and was invested with the insignia on 14 November of that year. In 1860, Whitlock was given the command of the Northern Division and made Colonel of the 3rd Madras European Regiment, which in 1861 joined the Home Establishment under the title of H.M.’s 108th (Madras Infantry) Regiment. Whitlock attained the rank of Lieutenant-General in April 1864. He died near Exmouth, Devon, on 30 January 1868.

Refs: Hart’s Army List, 1868 &1869; Modern English Biography (Boase); Ball’s History of the Indian Mutiny; Companion to the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (Taylor).