Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Indian Mutiny medal to Lieutenant Thomas Frankland, Second in Command of the 2nd Regiment of Punjab Infantry, severely wounded at the storming of the Kashmir Gate at Delhi in September 1857, and killed in action at the storming of the Secunderabagh at Lucknow in November 1857

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 2 clasps, Delhi, Relief of Lucknow (2nd in Comd. Lt. T. Frankland, 2nd Regt. Punjaub Infy.) good very fine £2000-2500

Thomas Frankland was born on 16 March 1828, second son of Sir Frederick William Frankland, Bart., of Thirkleby, Yorkshire. He entered the Madras Army in 1844 and joined the 48th M.N.I. in May 1845. He was appointed Adjutant and Interpreter to the 7th Infantry of the Nizam’s Army, afterwards designated 5th Infantry Hyderabad Contingent, which he joined at Ellichpur in September 1851, becoming second-in-command in January 1854. In May 1854 he became second-in-command of the 6th Infantry Hyderabad Contingent, and acting Commandant in the following August. In February 1856 he was appointed second-in-command of the 2nd Punjab Infantry and, officiating as Commandant, served with it in the expedition to Upper Miranzai and the Kuram Valley, and at the surprise of Torawari, the Alsatia of that part of the frontier. Early in 1857 he accompanied the regiment to Dera Ghazi Khan and served with it in the Bozdar expedition, including the forcing of the Khan-band defile.

In May 1857, on the outbreak of the mutinies, he marched with the regiment to Multan, where he took part in the dramatic disarming of the 62nd and 69th N.I. on the 11th June.

A month later he marched with the regiment for Delhi, and arriving there on the 14th August, he took part in the remainder of the siege operations, including the action of Najafgarh and the storming of the Kashmir breach on the morning of the 14th September, on which occasion he was severely wounded.

Though still suffering from his wounds, after the expulsion of the rebels from Delhi he accompanied the regiment with Greathed’s pursuing column, and was present with it at the actions of Bhulandshahr, Aligarh and Agra, in the march to Cawnpore, and in the operations for the relief of Lucknow under Sir Colin Campbell. In the course of these latter operations he was killed at the storming of the Secunderabagh on the 16th November 1857. He was buried at Lucknow and a tablet erected to his memory in St Augustine’s Church, Kohat.