Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An O.B.I., Great War ‘Attempted Relief of Kut-al-Amara’ I.D.S.M., R.V.M. group of eight awarded to Subadar-Major Bahadur Kishan Singh, Indian Mountain Battery, Royal Artillery, who served as Orderly Officer to H.M. King George V

Order of British India, 2nd Class neck badge, gold and enamel, screw-nut fitting to reverse, with neck riband; Indian Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (Jemdr Kishan Singh 30th Mtn. By.); British War Medal 1914-20, erased; Victory Medal 1914-19, with M.I.D. oak leaves, unnamed; General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps, Khurdistan, Iraq (Subdr. Kishan Singh.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, erased; India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1930-31 (Subdr-Maj. Kishan Singh. R.A.); Royal Victorian Medal, G.V.R., silver, unnamed as issued, mounted for display purposes, generally very fine or better (8) £1200-1600

I.D.S.M. G.G.O. 31 May 1915.

Kishan Singh was born in the Punjab and enlisted in 1902 into the 5th (Bombay) Indian Mountain Battery as a Gunner. Prior to the Great War he served on the North West Frontier of India in the Garrison at Chitral. On 1 July 1914 he was commissioned Jemadar, and served during the Great War in Mesopotamia with the 30th (Abbottabad) Battery, taking part in the Advance to, and Attempted Relief of Jut-al-Amara, followed by service in Waziristan in 1917. For his services during the Great War he was awarded the Indian Distinguished Service Medal, and was also Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 5 April 1916). After the Great War he served in Iraq and Kurdistan and on the North West Frontier, and was again Mentioned in Despatches. Appointed an Instructor at the Indian School of Artillery at Kakul in 1923, the following year he was selected as one of the first Instructors at the Indian Artillery Survey Unit. He was promoted to his ultimate rank of Subadar-Major and honorary Lieutenant on 1 August 1925, whilst serving in 20th Indian Mountain Artillery Brigade.

Awarded the Order of British India (Second Class), he served as an Orderly Officer in attendance on H.M. King George V from 22 April to 29 July 1927, and received the Royal Victorian Medal in silver at Buckingham Palace on 21 June 1927. Returning to India, he served again on the North West Frontier of India (erroneously receiving a second India General Service Medal, rather than just an additional claps to his first I.G.S.), before retiring in 1932 after 30 years’ service, being granted the rank of honorary Captain.

Sold with various photographic images of the recipient, including one of him taken inside Buckingham Palace following the King’s Birthday award of the Royal Victorian Medal in silver.