The exchange George Cross for Malabar 1921-22 awarded to Assistant Surgeon G. D. Rodriques, Indian Medical Department

George Cross (Asst. Surgeon 3rd Cl. George David Rodriques, Indian Medical Dept., 2nd June 1923), officially engraved naming, in its Royal Mint case of issue, nearly extremely fine £8000-10000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Kieran Collection.

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Collection

Ex David Riddick collection, Dix Noonan Webb, 7 March 2007 (Lot 126).

George David Rodriques was born in March 1892 and entered the Indian Medical Department as an Assistant Surgeon 4th Class in April 1914. Advanced to Assistant Surgeon 3rd Class in April 1921, he was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (E.G.M.) in the London Gazette of 2 June of 1923, ‘for services rendered in connection with military operations in Malabar 1921-22’; so, too, four men of the Dorsershire Regiment for like services.

The 2nd Battalion, Dorsershire Regiment, was stationed at Belgaum in India when the Moplah rebellion started. Operating in the thick forest country, armed with every sort of weapon from stolen rifles and shotguns to swords and spears, the Moplahs were formidable fighters at close quarters and it was in one of these hand-to-hand encounters that Rodriques and the four Devonshires won their E.G.Ms (The Story of the George Cross, by Sir John Smyth, refers). All five subsequently had their awards exchanged for the George Cross.