Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Rifleman Bag Sing Kuttree, Sirmoor Rifle Battalion

Sutlej 1845-46, for Aliwal 1846, 1 clasp, Sobraon (Sepoy Bag Sing Kuttree. 5th or Sirmoor Rifle Battn.); Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Delhi (Rifleman Bag Sing Kuttree Sirmoor Rifle Battn.) impressed naming, some edge bruising, otherwise nearly very fine and rare (2) £1000-1200

All three of the above actions were granted as Regimental Honours to the Sirmoor Rifles.

The Sirmoor Battalion was raised in Nepaul in 1815. At the battle of Aliwal the regimental colours were broken by canon fire and the Sikhs captured the standard, when a small section of Gurkhas under a Havildar cut their way through the massed ranks of the enemy and re-gained it. Four men of the regiment won the Order of Merit for gallantry at Aliwal, and one for gallantry at Sobraon.

During the Mutiny, on 14 May 1857 the Sirmoor Rifles were ordered to march to Meerut to aid the Europeans. In less than four hours after receipt of the order, the regiment was on the move without tents or anything more than they carried on their backs. On 21 May they were the first regiment in the field, British or Native, to pull a trigger against the mutineers, when they executed thirteen villagers who had been sentenced to death.

At Delhi they held Hindoo Rao’s House, were never relieved, and were under fire constantly day and night for almost three months until the house ‘was riddled through with shot and shell’. During this time they repulsed 26 separate attacks from the city and lost 327 killed and wounded out of a total of 490 all ranks.

The impression they made on the British can be summed up by the remarks of Captain Griffiths of the 61st Foot: ‘In battle they seem in their proper element, fierce and courageous, shrinking from no danger. As soldiers, they are second to none, amenable to discipline and docile, but very tigers when roused. They fight with unflinching spirit, during the Mutiny no assault, however strong and determined, made any impression on the men.’

21 men of the regiment won the Order of Merit for gallantry at Delhi and the regiment was further honoured by the presentation to it of the Queen’s Truncheon, which is accorded the honours due to a Queen’s Colour. In 1861 the Sirmoor Rifles became the 2nd Goorkha Regiment.