Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Great War C.I.E. group of eight awarded to Captain H. M. Salmond, Royal Indian Marine, who was Director of Sea Transport in Mesopotamia and later Deputy Director of the Royal Indian Marine; he was on two occasions awarded the Royal Humane Society medal

The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 3rd type neck badge, gold and enamels; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (Lieut. H. M. Salmond, R.I.M.S. Minto) official correction to first initial; 1914-15 Star (Comdr. H. M. Salmond. R.I.M.) sometime gilded; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Comdr. H. M. Salmond. R.I.M.); Coronation 1911; Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (Unsuccessful), (Lieut. H. M. Salmond. R.I.M. 17th March 1908) with integral top ribbon buckle; another identical medal (Captain H. M. Salmond. C.I.E. R.I.M. 1st Sept. 1925) with integral top ribbon buckle, the campaign medals mounted as worn, good very fine or better (8) £1,600-£2,000

C.I.E. London Gazette 25 August 1917:
‘For services in Mesopotamia.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 25 August 1917; Gazette of India 3 June 1918.

R.H.S. Bronze Medal Case 36,053: ‘On the 17th March, 1908, a soldier while climbing the cliffs at Marshag Point, Aden, fell into a land-locked bay, the tide being low at the time. Lance.-Corpl. G. Garrett, Bedfordshire Regt., got down the cliff from a height of 200 feet and drew him from within reach of the sea. Commander C. B. Henley and Lt. H. M. Salmond, R.I.M., rowed in as near as possible and then swam some 50 yards, but found the man dead, and along with Garrett got his body on board the boat and landed it.’ (Bronze Medal to each).

R.H.S. Bronze Medal Case 48,660: ‘Captain H. M. Salmond, R.I.M., aged 50 and Mahomed A. Bhatti, aged 42. At 7.15 p.m. on 1st September 1925, in the Harbour of Karachi, four persons were swept from the breakwater by a large wave. Captain Salmond and Bhatti both plunged in but failed to find any of them and were picked up half an hour after 150 to 200 yards out. Rough Sea. Case sent by High Commissioner for India. (Two Bronze Medals, unsuccessful type).

Hubert Mackenzie Salmond was born at Farnboro, Hampshire, on 18 December 1874, son of Lieutenant-Colonel F. M. Salmond, Royal Scots Fusiliers, and Isabel Clara, daughter of Lieutenant-General H. G. Hart. He was educated privately and was apprenticed to Messrs. Wright Brenkenridge & Co., Glasgow. He spent three and a half years on the Clipper Ships Falls of Earn and Falls of Halladale; fourteen months as 3rd Mate in Falconhurst; and as Midshipman on board H.M.S. Alexandria and H.M.S. Superb during the manoeuvres of 1894 for five weeks. He was appointed to the Royal Indian Marine as Sub-Lieutenant on 1 December 1896; Lieutenant, 1 December 1900; Commander, 18 January 1915; Captain, 28 August 1922.

Salmond saw much service in arms traffic operations in the Persian Gulf, including the Mekran expedition of 1908-10 (Medal and clasp). During the 1914-18 was he was Director of Sea Transport in the Mesopotamian theatre. His service received mention in General Sir Percy Lake’s and General Maude’s despatches of August 1917, and again from the Government of India in June 1918 for services as Senior Marine Transport Officer at Karachi; and he was made a C.I.E. in August 1917 for services in Mesopotamia. In 1922 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Royal Indian Marine and, in 1923, he became Port Officer and Deputy Conservator at Karachi, a post he held until his retirement in 1926. He died on Christmas Day 1947, at Seal, near Sevenoaks, Kent, aged 72.