Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to include a Fine Collection of Napoleonic Medals

A 3rd Class I.O.M. group awarded to Sepoy Gulab Khan, 12th Madras Infantry, formerly a Private in the Chin Police Levy, and later a Jemadar in the Indian Labour Corps, for gallantry in Manipur in March and April 1891

Indian Order of Merit, Military Division, 1st type, 3rd Class, Reward of Valor, silver and enamel, the reverse inscribed on three lines ‘3rd Class Order of Merit’ and additionally impressed with the recipient’s service number ‘380’, with three-prong ribbon buckle, enamel badly chipped; India General Service 1854-95, 4 clasps, Burma 1889-92, N.E. Frontier 1891, Chin-Lushai 1889-90, Burma 1887-89 (--17 Pte Gulab Khan Chin Police L---) clasps mounted in order listed, partial loss of service number and ‘Levy’ through contact with I.O.M. badge; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Jemdr. Gulab Khan. 1. Labour Corps.) test rubbing to obverse rim; together with British War and Victory Medals, and India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, these three unnamed, good fine, the last three good very fine (6) £2000-2500

I.O.M. 3rd Class G.O. No. 647 of 3 July 1891:

‘380 Sepoy Gulab Khan, 12th (Burma) Regt Madras Infantry. In recognition of the gallantry and devotion displayed while serving under the command of Lieutenant C. J. W. Grant, V.C., 12th (Burma) Regiment of Madras Infantry, during the advance on and defence of Thobal from the 28th March until the 9th April, in connection with the measures which were taken to restore order to Manipur and to extract retribution for the murder of the Chief Commissioner of Assam and other British officers in March 1891.’

It was not unusual for I.O.M. badges to be named unofficially by the regiment or corps prior to bestowal, although personalisation through the application of a service number alone has not been noted other than for the awards granted to the 12th Madras Infantry for Manipur 1891.

The clasp ‘Burma 1887-89’ was authorised on 1st December 1889 and claimed for Private Gulab Khan on a roll put in by the Chin Police Levy. Shortly afterwards, the entire strength of the 12th Madras Infantry was replaced by the native officers and other ranks of the Chin Police Levy (GGO 251, 31 March 1890). This transfer took effect from May or June 1890 following the Levy’s service in the Chin Lushai troubles, for which it received a second clasp to the I.G.S. medal. Thereafter the Chin Police Private became a 12th Madras Infantry Sepoy. Gulab Khan went on to serve in Burma and Assam with the 12th (2nd Burma) Regiment of Madras Infantry, adding two additional clasps to the two already on his I.G.S. medal, as well as being admitted to the Order of Merit for gallantry during the Manipur Expedition of 1891.

The sterling services of the Manipur column were richly rewarded. Lieutenant Charles Grant received the V.C. and the two Indian officers who accompanied him were mentioned in dispatches and appointed to the O.B.I. Every one of the non-commissioned officers and riflemen present, eighty-one all told, were admitted to the 3rd Class I.O.M.: fifty-one from the 12th Madras Infantry and thirty from the 43rd Gurkhas. There was evidently one man more in the 12th Madras Infantry contingent than was reported by Grant.

The 12th Madras Infantry became the 72nd Punjabis in 1903 and the 3rd Battalion 2nd Punjab Regiment in 1921. Gulab Khan retired from the regiment with the rank of Havildar in 1910 (still serving as such per July 1910 Indian Army List; pensioned per January 1911 edition). His regiment had served permanently in Burma from the date it was reconstituted until December 1908. However after 1892 it did not participate in any of the expeditions for which medals or clasps were issued.

Towards the close of WW1, when the Indian Labour Corps was being further expanded, Gulab Khan was brought out of retirement, commissioned Jemadar, and attached to the 100th Indian Labour Corps. This is recorded in the Oct 1919 and Jan 1920 editions of the Indian Army List in which he appears as Jemadar Pensioner 72 Punjabis.

Gulab Khan received the General Service Medal with single clasp Iraq for service during the 1919-1920 period. Bearing in mind that pensioners were used by the Indian Labour Corps as an emergency stopgap, it is quite possible that this was Gulab Khan’s only field service during his brief re-employment. However, when his medals were purchased in Pakistan, they were accompanied by three unnamed medals: British War Medal; Allied Victory Medal; India General Service Medal with clasp Afghanistan NWF 1919. It has not been possible to confirm that these medals were issued to Gulab Khan for his services with the Indian Labour Corps (possibly retrospectively) and so they remain speculative, although their presence cannot be ignored.

Gulab Khan remained on the pension establishment after his second retirement. He passed away some time before January 1929 as his name is not included on the table of IOM pensioners in the Indian Army List from this date onwards.