Orders, Decorations and Medals

India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Relief of Chitral 1895 (Hony. Lieut. & Qr. Mr. J. W. Dwane, 1st Bn. K.R. Rifle Corps) contact marks, very fine £360-400

John William Dwane was born in Jullunder, West Bengal on 7 September 1853. On 28 January 1869 he enlisted with a bounty of £1.0s.0d. at Woolwich to serve 12 years with the 60th Royal Rifles. Initially ranked as a Boy, he was appointed a Bugler in September 1869 and a Rifleman in October 1870. With the 1st Battalion he served in Nova Scotia, October 1871-December 1876, being advanced to Corporal in October 1872 and Serjeant in June 1875. Back in England Dwane was promoted to Colour Serjeant in June 1877 and Serjeant-Major in September 1882. On 15 February 1888 Dwane was promoted to Honorary Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the 1st Battalion K.R.R.C. (London Gazette 14 February 1888). The battalion was posted to India in 1890 and Dwane served in the Hazara, Miranzai and Isazai Expeditions, 1891-92 and in the Chitral Relief Force, 1895. For his services he was awarded the I.G.S. 1854 Medal with clasps for Hazara 1891 and Samana 1891 and the I.G.S. 1895 Medal with clasp, Relief of Chitral 1895. In further recognition of his services in these expeditions he was granted the honorary rank of Captain (London Gazette 25 June 1897). In December 1896 Dwane and the 1st Battalion sailed for the Cape from Bombay aboard the Warren Hastings; thence from Cape Town some companies, Dwane included, sailed for Mauritius. The troopship ran aground off the island of Reunion on 14 January 1897 but despite the crisis, the discipline of the troops in evacuating the ship was widely praised. In September 1899 Dwane was transferred to the 2nd Battalion K.R.R.C. as Quartermaster. With them he served in the Second Boer War and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 17 June 1902). Attaining the rank of Honorary Major and Quartermaster, Dwane was placed on Retired Pay in 1908 (London Gazette 2 October 1908). Major John William Dwane died at Winchester on 19 February 1921.

With a fine portrait photograph of the recipient in uniform and with a quantity of copied research, including gazette and roll extracts.