India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Malabar 1921-22 (C. B. Lancaster, A.S.P. Mal. Spl. Force) good very fine and a rare casualty £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Richard Magor Collection of Medals Relating to India and Africa, and other Fine Awards.

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Cuthbert Buxton Lancaster was born on 24 January 1899, son of the Rev. T. Lancaster, rector of St Mary’s, Weymouth, and was educated at Marlborough College. He joined the Indian Police in Madras and, at the outbreak of the Moplah Rebellion in August 1921, was Assistant Superintendent of Police, Malapuram, Malabar. The uprising was essentially a Hindu-Moslem problem which broke out on 20 August 1921 and lasted until 21 February 1922. A British column, comprising 200 men from the Leinster Regiment and a number of Special Police, en route from Calicut to Malapuram, was ambushed by a strong force of Moplah rebels on the 26th August. The insurgents attacked from all sides and were only repulsed after four hours of fierce hand-to-hand fighting. Rebels barricaded themselves in the houses at Pukkatur which were carried by assault. Mr Lancaster, who accompanied the column, was mortally wounded in the heavy fighting and was buried with full military honours. Sold with copies of contemporary accounts from The Times.