Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Prize Medal to William Spottiswoode Trevor - latterly awarded the Victoria Cross as a Major in the Bengal Engineers

Scottish Naval & Military Academy Prize Medal, reverse inscribed, ‘Senr. Mathematics’ ‘1st Prize Mr Wm. S. Trevor, 22nd July 1847’, 42mm. dia., silver, hallmarks for Edinburgh 1847, with swivel straight bar suspension (lacking suspension rod) lacking ribbon but contained in red leather case of issue, extremely fine £400-600

‘TREVOR, WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE (1831-1907), Major-General, Royal (Bengal) Engineers, born in India on 9 October 1831, was second son of Captain Robert Salusbury Trevor, 3rd Bengal Cavalry, by his wife Mary, youngest daughter of William Spottiswoode, laird of Glenfemate, Perthshire, N.B. His father was one of the party of three murdered with Sir William Macnaghten [q. v.] at Kabul in 1841. The widow and children were detained in captivity by Akbar Khan for nine months in Afghanistan. After their release and return to England William was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and at the East India Company's military seminary at Addiscombe. He obtained a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Bengal Engineers on 11 December 1849. While under professional instruction at Chatham, he was for some months on special duty at the Great Exhibition of 1851. He arrived in India in 1852 in time to take part in the Burmese war; was severely wounded in the escalade and capture of the White House Picquet stockade in the operations before Rangoon on 12 April 1852, and was mentioned in despatches. In the autumn he had sufficiently recovered to join the force under Sir John Cheape [q. v.] in the Donabew district, and was present in several actions, ending with the attack on the entrenched position at Kym Kazim on 19 March 1853. For his conduct on this occasion, when he was again wounded, Trevor received the thanks of government in a 'notification' dated 22 April 1853 and the medal with clasp. He was promoted lieutenant on 1 August 1854. After the conclusion of the Burmese war he was employed on the Pegu survey, and later on the Bassein river in Burma, with a view to constructing a sanatorium at the mouth of the river. The country was in an unsettled state and Trevor's position most insecure. Transferred in October 1857 to Bengal, he accompanied the Darjeeling field force, to intercept the mutineers of the 75th native infantry from Dacca, and engaged them at Cherabandar on the Bhutan frontier. Promoted Captain on 27 August 1858, Trevor was employed in the construction of the Ganges and Darjeeling road. In 1861 he was appointed garrison engineer at Fort William, Calcutta, and converted a tract of waste land on the bank of the Hooghly into the pleasure resort known as the Eden Gardens. In February 1862 he officiated as superintending engineer of the northern circle, and completed the Ganges and Darjeeling road to the foot of the mountains. In May 1863 he was appointed controller of accounts, and improved the method of keeping them. In February 1865 Trevor joined the Bhutan Field Force as field engineer under Major-General (Sir) Henry Tombs [q. v.]. At the attack on Dewan-Giri on 30 April following, Trevor and a brother officer, James Dundas [q.v.], greatly distinguished themselves in forcing their way alone ahead of their Sikh soldiers into a barely accessible blockhouse, the key of the enemy's position, in which some 180 to 200 of the enemy had barricaded themselves after the rest of the position had been carried. His gallantry was rewarded by the V.C. He was suffering from illness at the time, and was five times wounded in the desperate encounter. After being treated at Gauhati he went on long leave of absence, and on his return became superintending engineer at the Bengal Presidency. He was made Brevet Major on 15 May 1866, and received the medal and clasp for his services in the campaign. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 19 August 1874, Trevor was appointed special chief engineer for the famine relief works north of the Ganges. He received the thanks of the government for his work. After serving as Inspector-General of military works he was transferred as chief engineer to Central India, and in December 1875 was appointed chief engineer of British Burma. In this post, which he held for five years, he helped to draft a scheme for the reorganisation of the engineer establishment, for which he was again thanked by the government. He attained the rank of Brevet Colonel on 19 August 1879. From February 1882 to February 1887 Trevor was secretary to the government of India in the public works department. He retired with the honorary rank of Major-General on 20 February 1887. He was a steady shot with a revolver, to which on several occasions he owed his life, an expert swordsman, and a daring rider. He died on 2 November 1907 at 58 Victoria Street, London, and was buried at Kensal Green.’