Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Army of India 1799-1826, 2 clasps, Capture of Deig, Nepaul (Capt. J. Cock, 21st N.I.) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming, ‘st’ of ‘21st’ re-impressed over ‘th’, edge bruising and light contact marks, otherwise very fine and rare £4,000-£5,000

Provenance: Spink, November 2008; Mike Shaw Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, September 2012. Only 6 medals issued with this combination of clasps, this being unique to the Indian Army.

James Cock was born in Glasgow on 16 July 1780. A Cadet of the 1795 season, he was gazetted Ensign on 11 October 1796, and arrived in India in February 1797, where he was posted to the 7th Bengal Native Infantry and promoted to Lieutenant in the following October. He was transferred to the 1/18th N.I. in May 1800 and served with a detachment under the command of Colonel Peregrine Powell, when he defeated the Nawab Rumsham Bahadur, at Kora in Bundelkhand. He served during the second Mahratta war as part of General Lake’s Grand Army, and was present at the siege and capture of Deig, 11th-23rd December 1804, and at the unsuccessful siege of Bhurtpore in January and February 1805.

Promoted to Captain in September 1807, he transferred to the 2/21st N.I., with which unit he served during the Nepaul campaign of 1814-15, in command of a small detachment on the Morung Frontier, which compelled the enemy to evacuate a stockade. Promoted to Major in May 1815, he served again during the Nepaul campaign of 1815-16, in command of a Wing of his regiment during the successful attack on the stockaded heights of Fort Harriharpur. At the conclusion of hostilities he was ordered to proceed with his Wing across the Hills and down the bed of the Bognutty River, to ascertain if any route was practicable for troops.

Cock was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in March 1821, transferred to the 1/12th N.I., and was appointed Commandant of that corps in May 1824, becoming Colonel in June 1829. In April 1836, he unsuccessfully petitioned to be recommended to His Majesty to be appointed a Companion of the Bath. He commanded the Station at Barrackpore in 1837-38, was appointed to the command of the Benares Division in May 1838, received promotion to Major-General in June of the same year, and was appointed Colonel of the 9th Native Infantry in 1846.

Major-General Cock died at his home, Hopton Hall, near Lowestoft, Suffolk, on 17 March 1851. Sold with copied record of service.