Orders, Decorations and Medals

A ‘double-issue’ Indian Mutiny pair to Surgeon-General J. J. Clarke, Bengal Medical Department

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 2 clasps, Defence of Lucknow, Lucknow (A. Surgn. J. J. Clarke, 3rd Bn. Bengal Art.); Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 2 clasps, Relief of Lucknow, Lucknow (Asst. Surgn. J. J. Clarke.) a rare double issue with the ‘impossible’ combination of clasps for both the defence and relief of Lucknow, nearly extremely fine (2) £1400-1600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Medical Services formed by Colonel D.G.B. Riddick.

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John James Clarke was born on 27 June 1827. He gained the M.R.C.S. in 1853 and was appointed Assistant Surgeon with the Bengal Medical Establishment in 1853. During the Indian Mutiny he joined Havelock’s Column at Cawnpore on 6 August 1857 after escaping from Banda, through Central India to Benares. Served under Havelock in medical charge of Olphert’s Horse Battery of Bengal Artillery, in his operations on both banks of the Ganges, at the action of Mungawar, Alum Bagh and the advance into Lucknow on 25 September 1857. He then served in the defence of the city until its final relief and then, still holding the same medical charge with the Bengal Artillery, was present at the siege and capture of Lucknow. He was then in medical charge of the 1st Sikh Irregular Cavalry during operations in Oudh, April-August 1858. For his services he was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 31 March 1858). Clarke was appointed Surgeon in June 1864 and qualified as a Doctor of Medicine at St. Andrew’s in 1872. He was promoted to Surgeon-Major in May 1873 and Deputy Surgeon-General in April 1879. His final period of active service was on the N.E. Frontier in the Akha Expedition, 1883-84, where he served as Principal Medical Officer and was again mentioned in despatches. He retired with the rank of Surgeon-General on 14 January 1884 and died in Melbourne on 23 February 1895. Sold with copied service details and research.