Orders, Decorations and Medals

A rare 'Martiniere' group of three to Volunteer John W. Smith, a pupil at the Martiniere College throughout the Defence of Lucknow and one of only three boys to be wounded

INDIAN MUTINY 1857-58, 1 clasp, Defence of Lucknow, correctly impressed with initial and name only; DELHI DURBAR 1911 (Mutiny Veteran) officially engraved naming; VOLUNTEER FORCE LONG SERVICE, for India and the Colonies, E.VII.R. (Voltr., N.W. Ry. Volt. Rifles) edge knock to the last, light contact marks overall, otherwise good very fine (3)

La Martiniere was once the residence of the French General Claude Martin and established as a college for European and Eurasian boys in his memory. During the siege the elder boys, though not officiaHy combatant, were armed with muskets and helped their masters in the defence of their quarters. The younger boys helped with some of the domestic work when servants deserted, or carried messages and ammunition to the posts. L.E.R. Rees, in his diary of the siege comments on the health of the boys and his disapproval of the tasks given to them: 'The poor Martiniere pupils, who go about the garrison more filthy than others, and apparently more neglected and hungry even than we are, are made use of to drive away these insects (flies) from the sick in hospital, and others. That they, too, should contribute their share of usefulness is but just and fair; but that they should be placed in menial attendance upon the healthy great in the garrison is, in my opinion, far from right. But I shall say nothing more on this subject, lest I assume a tone of censure.' John Smith was one of the three boys who helped to tend Sir Henry Lawrence as he lingered after receiving his mortal wound on the 2nd July. Smith himself was wounded on the 26th July in the left thigh and was nursed to recovery by the teachers. Three of the boys were wounded during the siege and another two succumbed to disease. (ref. 'The Tourists Guide to Lucknow' by E.H. Hilton, Student at La Martiniere, published in Lucknow 1911) John W.Smith received the Delhi Durbar medal in 1911 as one of the Mutjny Veterans of Lucknow (ref. 'The Historical Record of the Imperial Visit to India 1911')