Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Mr. J. W. Lomas, Dispr. of Medicines) toned, extremely fine, scarce £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Indian Mutiny Medals, the Property of a Gentleman.

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One of 12 Indian Mutiny Medals awarded to ‘Dispensers of Medicine’ (seven with clasp Lucknow, and five with no clasp).

Joseph Wilding Lomas was born in 1832 and registered as an associate of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1854, passing the Society’s “Major Examination” later that year. Stationed in India at the outbreak of the Great Sepoy Mutiny, he served with the Azimghur Field Force, and was present at the attack on the rebels at Gauna and near the Kursumnagra River, both east of Lucknow.

After 10 years in India and having made a reasonable fortune, Lomas returned to England. He owned two Chemist and Druggists outlets, one in Queen Victoria Street, City of London and another in the Old Kent Road, Bermondsey, and had a large number of other financial interests. However, around 1895 he withdrew from public life and went to live in Camberwell where he rented two rooms in a basement flat. He was found dead in bed on 16 October 1899, the inquest returned a verdict of death by natural causes (in this case heart attack).

Sold with copied research.