Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Lucknow (Commist. Supvr. A Ross, 79th Highlanders) very fine £400-£500

Alexander George Ross, the eldest son of George Ross, Indian Civil Service, and Isabella, daughter of Justin McCartie of Carrignavar, County Cork, was born at Meerut on 9 January 1840. He was educated at the Academy, Institute and University of Edinburgh, and was commissioned Ensign in the Bengal Army on 4 November 1857. Intended for the 17th Native Infantry which mutinied on 3 June at Azimgahr, he was detained ‘at Barracks in Calcutta’ until February 1858, when he was attached to H.M’s 37th Regiment. In March he was attached to H.M’s 35th Regiment and was employed with them in the attack on Arrah. He afterwards served with the 79th Highlanders in the Oudh Campaign and took part in numerous actions including the capture of Fort Rampore Kussia and the passage of the Gogra at Fyzabad.

On the outbreak of the Mutiny the Cadets of the E.I.C. Forces, mostly boys of sixteen or seventeen, known universally throughout India as ‘Griffins’ or ‘Little Griffins’ were attached to various British regiments, as most of the units they were to have joined had mutinied. They are not found in the British Army Lists of the period, and are only traceable through the East India Registers.

Promoted Lieutenant on 13 December 1859, while doing duty with the Agra Levy, he joined the Bengal Staff Corps on its formation in 1861 and was gazetted to the 1st Sikh Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force. In 1867 he was appointed to raise, equip and command a mule transport train at Lahore for field service in Abyssinia. Accompanying the train to Annesley Bay below Massowah in January 1868, he participated in the three hundred mile march to Arrogie, and took part in the successful action at that place. The Abyssinian capital of Magdala was reached soon after and razed to the ground on 17 April. King Theodore of Abyssinia committed suicide, and Ross was mentioned in despatches.

Ross was advanced to the rank of Captain in November 1869 and served as Wing Officer, 1st Sikhs, until 1875. Appointed Officiating Commandant in May 1877 and promoted Major and on 4 November of that year, he took part in the expedition to suppress the Jowaki Afridis, who, having occupied the territory between Peshawar and the Kohat Pass, continually preyed on the neighbouring tribes. The expedition was divided into two columns - the Kohat, and the Peshawar. The 1st Sikhs were employed with the main force, the Kohat Column, which, under Brigadier C. P. Keyes, attacked and captured Jummoo, the principal stronghold of the Jowaki Afridis on 1 December 1877. On 23 and 24 January 1878 the Jowaki tribesmen sued for peace and the expeditionary force withdrew after a campaign of ten weeks. Ross was again mentioned in despatches

Shortly before the start of the Second Afghan War, the 1st Sikhs under Ross’s command marched from Kohat to Peshawar on 3 October 1878, and on 9 November was placed on the strength of Lieutenant-General Sir Sam Browne’s Peshawar Valley Field Force, being brigaded with the 1/17th (Leicestershire) Regiment and the Guides Infantry in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division. The Peshawar Valley F.F. moved into the Khyber Pass on the evening of the 20 November, with the 1st Sikhs and Guides making a flanking march via Lashura and Sapri to the hills above Kata Kushtia, where they arrived on the 21st in time to open fire on the Afghan cavalry retreating from Ali Musjid. Next day the 1st Sikhs were present at the surrender of a portion of the Afghan infantry. For his part in the occupation of the hill fort of Ali Musjid, Ross received another mention in despatches.

Ross’s regiment next garrisoned the fort of Daka till 12 December, and then moved to Jellalabad via Basawal. Remaining at Jellalabad with other units of the 1st Division from 20 December until shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Gandamak on 30 May 1879, the regiment provided detachments to take part in several expeditions. In February 1878 Ross commanded a detachment of 250 men on Brigadier-General Jenkins’s expedition into the Lughman territory. Sirdar Azmatallah Khan of Lughman still refused to tender his submission and had incarcerated two brothers of the native Governor of Jellalabad. It was therefore decided to enter his territory on the 22nd, ‘overawe’ the inhabitants and effect the release of the prisoners. The expedition consisting of the Sikhs, a troop of the 10th Hussars, a squadron of Guides Cavalry, two Mountain guns, 200 of the Rifle Brigade and 250 of the Guides Infantry, was entirely successful and returned to Jellalabad without firing a shot on the 25th.

Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel by Brevet for services in Afghanistan, Ross became full Colonel on 22 November 1879, and in 1881 took part in the Mahsud Waziri Expedition for which he was mentioned in despatches. In 1887 he was appointed a Companion of the Bath, and at the close of the year 1890 was given command of the Punjab Frontier Force Column - one of two columns under Major-General Sir George White, employed in the Zhob Valley for the purposes of exploration and the subjection of some sections of the Kidarzai Sherani tribe. Ross’s column consisted the 1st and 3rd Punjab Cavalry, No.1 (Kohat) and No.7 (Bengal) Mountain Batteries, and half-battalions of the 1st and 2nd Sikhs. Operations were carried out in poor weather and over rugged terrain, but fortunately there was little enemy resistance. By 3 December all the objectives of this minor expedition, for which no medals were awarded, were achieved and the columns were disbanded and returned to their normal stations. A further mention in despatches followed for Ross.

Ross was promoted Lieutenant-General on 10 December 1897, and was transferred to the list of unemployed officers on 20 January 1899. He retired to 16 Hamilton Road, Ealing, West London, and in 1905 was created a Knight Commander of the Bath. Sir Alexander, who married Emma Walwyn, the daughter of Lieutenant-General G. E. Gowans, C.B., R.A., in 1870, died on 22 June 1910.

Note: The K.C.B. group to Sir A. G. Ross was sold as part of the Brian Ritchie Collecion, Dix Noonan Webb, March 2005. This group contained a no-clasp Indian Mutiny medal named ‘Ensn. A. G. Ross, 35th Regt.’ so he was clearly issued with a second medal for service at Lucknow with the 79th Highlanders.