Punjab 1848-49, 2 clasps, Chilianwala, Goojerat (Ensign D. A. Sandford, 2nd Eur. Regt.) minor edge bruises, otherwise extremely fine £600-700

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

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Daniel Augustus Sandford was born on 12 August 1829, third son of the Venerable John Sandford, B.D., Archdeacon of Coventry, Honorary Canon of Worcester, and Rector of Alvenchurch, Worcestershire. He was educated at Rugby, which he entered in 1842, shortly before Dr Arnold’s death, and entered the Bengal Army in 1846. He arrived in India in March 1847, and before the end of the month was sent up to Benares to do duty with the 9th Native Infantry. At the end of the following September he was posted to the 2nd European Regiment (later 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers), and he joined that regiment at Subathu early in the succeeding November. On the outbreak of the Second Sikh war he accompanied his regiment into the field and served with it throughout the Punjab campaign of 1848-49, including the affair of Rumnagar, the passage of the Chenab, the battles of Chilianwala and Goojerat, at which last he was slightly wounded, and the pursuit of the Sikhs to Peshawar, at which place he served with the corps for some time after the close of the campaign. He subsequently marched with the regiment to Lahore, arriving there in May 1849, and at that place, on the 20th of June, he died of a fever resulting from the hardships and privations of the campaign. Ensign Sandford was the author of Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern during the Campaign in the Punjab, published after his death by his father.