Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers

The rare Maiwand survivor’s medal awarded to Colonel James Grant, 1st Bombay Grenadiers, who was severely wounded and twice mentioned in despatches

Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Capt. J. Grant. Bo. N.I.) good very fine £3,000-£4,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers.

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James Grant was born on 17 September 1845, and first entered the Army as an Ensign in the 46th Foot on 30 June 1865. He arrived in India on Christmas Day of 1865 and was appointed Lieutenant in the Bombay Staff Corps on 4 August 1868. The following day he was posted as Wing Officer to the 27th Bombay Infantry and, in June 1869, as Wing Officer and subsequently Quartermaster to the 24th Bombay Infantry, from June 1869 to December 1870. He next served as Squadron Officer in the 1st Sind Horse until August 1871 when he was appointed Wing Officer in the 1st Bombay Grenadiers. From May 1873 to November 1874, Grant was in Civil Employ in command of H.H. the Gaikwa’s Local Battalion at Dhari, and again in the same appointment from October 1876 to October 1877. He was promoted to Captain on 30 June 1877, and returned to the 1st Grenadiers on 19 October 1877.

At the battle of Maiwand, Captain Grant commanded the left wing of the 1st Grenadiers. General Burrows ordered the Grenadiers, positioned on the left of the British line to advance 500 yards towards the main body of the Afghan infantry. The intention was to form a line within range of the enemy and break up the impending attack with disciplined volleying. A crushing blow delivered at this stage, and the whole battle might be over. Burrows, however, had not reckoned on the strength of the enemy’s artillery. Maxwell, in My God - Maiwand, takes up the story:

‘There is very little documentation to tell us about this phase, but it appears that the Grenadiers rose to their feet and advanced in line for a hundred yards before there was an enemy reaction. Then the whole of the Afghan artillery opened fire and a hurricane of shot and shell flew screaming around the regiment. The impression of intensity given by the bombardment was very great. Kizilbash gunners served the Afghan artillery with with fanatic enthusiasm and vigour - but aim was wild and casualties inflicted were few. Here and there some poor wretch was smashed backwards through the ranks, rifle flying one way, turban another, life-blood spattering adjacent files as some shell splinter or cannon-ball struck home. But discipline was never in danger, and the regiment marched on regardless. Captain Grant of the left wing was wounded in the leg, but got to his feet and struggled on to rejoin his men. But all this was too much for Burrows... [and] riding close behind the Grenadiers, he shouted above the tumult that the regiment was to halt and take cover.’

‘Now the Grenadiers changed to company volleys; but soon the din was such that words of command could not be heard and every soldier fired independently as best he could, grinning, grunting as he rammed home the bullet, cursing and slaying. The Heratis were hurled in all directions by musketry and shellfire, their formation shattered, their impetus gone... Anderson [commanding the Grenadiers] remarked to Burrows that the Afghan regulars did not like volley-firing! To which the brigadier-general replied, “No. But there is no appearance of the rest going!” The Grenadiers were happy men, pleased with what they had done.

The battle continued and the Afghans were being repulsed all along the fighting line. Meanwhile, large numbers of Ghazis and a few irregulars had infiltrated into Khig and were engaging the baggage guard, under Major Ready of the 66th, along with companies of the Grenadiers and Jacob’s Rifles. Now the battle raged and confusion ruled as the Afghans overwhelmed the British forces.

‘The battlefield was a shambles. The guns had been in action more or less without cease for over three hours and had fired a thousand shells. The infantry had been in line for two hours in the roasting heat, battered by waves of concussion from their own gunfire, and for the last half-hour subjected to a holocaust of round-shot and bursting shell from enemy guns which had crept up unseen and unscathed to a killing range... The Grenadier group had suffered most, although they had managed to keep their adversaries further away than had Nuttall’s troops - the Snider rifles, red-hot to the touch though they might have been, had a longer effective range than carbines... Both Grenadier wings had been thrown back, the regiment faced in three different directions yet every portion of it was enfiladed by some battery of the Kizilbash artillery, which took full advantage of their plight and the perfect target they presented. As the smooth-bore battery had gone, a third of the Afghan guns could not be engaged, except by Maclaine’s division and then only by firing over the heads of the Grenadiers. As a result the Grenadiers got no more artillery support, whilst among them lay in bloody carnage nearly a hundred dead or seriously wounded sepoys, and another seventy-five wounded had been evacuated to the ravine... As in trances, hypnotized by sheer numbers, seventy Jacob’s Rifles sepoys of the hundred who had taken the field that morning maintained their line. They contemplated, together with the surviving two-thirds of the Grenadiers, a looming host of twelve thousand foemen as the battle reached its climax.’

‘Pounded and buffeted, Burrows’s sepoys lifted searing-hot rifles with blistered hands to fire and fire again at the threatening masses approaching nearer and nearer, burnt fingers fumbling in pouches for dwindling supplies of ammunition, every enemy knocked down replaced by five more... Slowly to their dulled and tortured senses came a feeling of change. There was a difference, a slight alleviation, a concept of transient well-being. Gradually realisation dawned. The deadly bombardment which had been hurling shot after shot, shell after shell through the steadfast ranks was losing its vigour... Burrows thought at once that the Kizilbash artillery had run out of ammunition; so did many others... There was a respite, a few minutes to think sanely. Grant of the Grenadiers had managed to remain with his men throughout the battle despite his leg-wound. The bone was exposed for about an inch, but it was not broken. He was on foot, as his charger had been killed by a round shot straight through the body, and he himself had been hit again in the stomach by a spent ball; but he was still around, seeing that the rifle sights were altered as the enemy drew nearer, and bringing up more ammunition from the ponies who were fifteen to twenty yards in rear of the line. Now, while hobbling about issuing bullets and cartridges, he had time to notice how many dead men lay in the ranks among the living; in the general dust and blood with which everyone was covered he had no time to absorb this fact before.’

‘But the Afghan artillery had not ceased firing from lack of shell and ball. The cannonade had slackened because Ayub Khan was about to give the signal for an advance on all fronts... Rising from the salient in savage thousands they charged to the attack. Ghazis in their white robes, wild-eyed and howling their war-cries of “Allah! Bismullah!”, right arms with swords extended, shield-arms held from habit across the body for useless protection against rifle-bullets, dark-uniformed Kabulis plodding forward in line, on they came. The 66th mowed them down in their hundreds but nothing stopped them. Only human, they flinched at last from the disciplined fire of the 66th. They swerved to the right, across the front of Jacob’s Rifles, and headed straight for the guns. Anderson of the Grenadiers, preoccupied as he was with his own battle, saw them coming and wheeled his right company back still more to face them and protect the battery, his men firing steadily and well. But as he did so, there arose the roar of another ghazi charge on his own regiment’s front and left. Again, a line of waving standards had risen aloft and was being escorted forward by a fanatic mob of white-clad ghazis... It was too much for Cole’s companies [Jacob’s Rifles]. A youth must have turned and started to run. A few followed. In an instant a terrified, disorganised rabble was streaming to the rear... one of the inside companies of the Grenadier left-wing stood up, broke formation, and began to press back towards the rear... Flushed with success, the tribesmen charged into the ranks of the Grenadiers, who were so close packed that the men could not use their arms, and defence was hopeless... Great numbers of sepoys from the two native regiments now pushed themselves into the rear ranks of the 66th, and nothing could stop them... The 66th Foot, Jacob’s Rifles and those Grenadiers who had pushed in among their ranks stood hesitant in a mingled mass of all three regiments until a voice cried, “Let’s try that village over there!”, and they began to trudge dazedly towards Khig.’

‘Grant of the Grenadiers was still able to walk, despite his wounded leg, and was one of the first to reach the last garden. Hurt though he was, he tried his best to make his men stand and reform, calling out as well as his dry throat permitted, even getting hold of a bugler of Jacob’s Rifles to sound the halt and assembly. But every man was well-nigh done from the day’s work and heat, and no one paid any attention to the bugle-calls. Grant could elicit no reply, other than the occasional expletive from a British soldier, and the men filed on through the gap in the enclosure. A few Afghan irregular horsemen were waiting outside, firing in the saddle from behind a high wall, but the straggle of fugitives carried on regardless of the nuisance. Grant tried at least to turn the nearest of the men in the direction of the main body which he could see at Mundabad, but they plodded on, aiming for the shortest route across the plain to the Khushk-i-Nakhud spur and the road to Kandahar. So he gave up the attempt, and turned off towards Nuttall’s force, accompanied only by a few Europeans and natives.’

On this disastrous day the losses sustained by the Grenadiers were of appalling magnitude. Of the 7 British officers present, 2 were killed, and 2 wounded; of the 15 native officers, 8 were killed, and 4 wounded; and of the 624 men, 347 were killed, and 55 wounded. The remainder underwent the indescribable horrors of retreat, straggling into Kandahar by twos and threes. Grant, himself, was in Kandahar throughout the siege from 28 July to 31 August, 1880, and returned with his regiment to India (Mentioned in despatches; Medal).

Grant was promoted to Major, 1 March 1884; transferred to 17 Bombay Infantry, 12 December 1884; second in command, 17th Bombay Infantry, 18 June 1886; Lieutenant-Colonel, 30 June 1891; Colonel, 30 June 1895; retired, 17 September 1903. Grant’s only campaign service was during the Afghan War 1878-80, during which he served with the 1st Bombay Grenadiers during both phases of the war. He was still in the Retired List in 1924.