A scarce ‘double issue’ India General Service group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Smith, 2/151st Native Infantry, late 58th Vaughan’s Rifles (Frontier Force) and 5th Punjab Infantry, Indian Army, who was wounded at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle on 12 March 1915, and was later Mentioned in Despatches

India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1901-2 (Lieutt. A. A. Smith 5th. Pjb Infy); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1908 (Captn. A. A. Smith - 58th. Rifles.); 1914-15 Star (Capt. A. A. Smith, 58/Rfls. F.F.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. A. A. Smith.); India General Service 1908-35, 2 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21 (Lt. Col. A. A. Smith 2-151 Infy.) last officially re-impressed, mounted for wear, generally very fine and better (6) £700-£900

M.I.D. London Gazette 22 January 1919.

Alfred Aquila Smith was born on 2 January 1877, the eldest son of Dublin-born civil servant Vincent Arthur Smith, C.I.E, Indian Civil Service, in Allahabad, Bengal. Educated at Cheltenham College, he was commissioned in the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Cheshire Regiment in February 1896 and transferred to a Regular Army in December 1897, being commissioned Second Lieutenant in the East Lancashire Regiment. Posted to the 2nd Battalion then serving in India, he was appointed to the Indian Staff Corps in February 1901 and attached to the 5th Bombay (Light) Infantry. He was subsequently appointed to 5th Punjab Infantry on 18 October 1901.

At the time Smith joined the regiment it was engaged in a series of punitive expeditions against the Darwesh Khel Wazirs and Mahsuds of Waziristan which lasted up to February 1902, for which the clasp ‘Waziristan 1901-2’ was awarded. The following year the 5th Punjab Infantry became 58th Vaughan's Rifles (Frontier Force). Promoted Captain on 1 December 1906, Smith took part in the punitive operations in Mohmand country in 1908 and was present at the engagement at Kargha.

In 1914 the 58th Rifles was stationed at Chaman on the border of Afghanistan, which served as an important trade point in the Baluchistan region. The Regiment was mobilised in August 1914 and Captain Smith was appointed to command the depot, along with Lieutenant J. O. Nicholls, which was then temporarily based at Chaman with the plan to move the depot to Multan shortly afterwards.
He was sent to France to rejoin his unit in December 1914. There Smith witnessed the Indian Corps in action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle; in misty conditions on 12 March 1915, the Germans launched a half-hearted assault which was easily repulsed at a cost of 70 Prisoners of War. According to the History of the 5th Battalion Smith was wounded during the engagement, alongside 11 Indian ranks killed. Marched back to billets in Paradis, the survivors later fought at Aubers Ridge before transferring to Egypt and then Palestine. Promoted Major, Smityh subsequently rejoined the battalion on 6 December 1917:

‘The 58th Rifles, now, on December 10th, received orders to join the 232nd Brigade then at Jimsu, where it arrived the same day after a march across a roadless, rain-sodden country, and on the 11th the 75th Division advanced its front to the line Midieh - Kh. Hamid - Budrus - Sheik Obeid Rahil in the XXIst Corps area, meeting with slight opposition in the process. On this day “C” Company under major A. A. Smith - who had only rejoined a few days previously from command of the regimental depot at Multan - supported a company of the 4th Devons in the capture of the Khurbat Zebdah Ridge, then passing through and taking Khurbat Hamid, after a short fight in which one man was killed and two wounded... On December 15th the Regiment was on the left of the Brigade in the storming of the very steep Khurbat Ibanneh position, taking prisoner 2 officers and 11 men; the casualties in the 58th from the 1st to 31st were 4 men killed and 18 wounded, whilst the captures totalled 3 officers, 25 men and one machine gun (ibid).’

Smith was promoted acting Lieutenant-Colonel in June 1918 and left the regiment to take over command of the 2nd Battalion, 151st Infantry, a newly raised infantry battalion. On 10 June, the 2nd Battalion, 151st Infantry joined the 29th Brigade, 10th (Irish) Division and remained with the division for the rest of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, taking part in the Battle of Nablus (19–21 September 1918).
Mentioned in Despatches for his services during the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, Smith returned with his unit to India in early February 1919; there they were mobilised for service in the the Third Afghan War, forming part of the Thal Relief Column.

Smith relinquished command on 10 June 1919 and the battalion was disbanded on 31 July 1920. He retired from the Indian Army on 3 June 1921 and died on in Chiswick, Middlesex, on 14 July 1930.

Sold with extensive copied research.