Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

The battle of Khushab V.C. group of five awarded to Major-General Arthur Thomas Moore, 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry, for his famous charge which broke the square of Persian infantry

(a) Victoria Cross, the reverse of the suspension bar inscribed ‘Lieut. Arthur Thomas Moore, 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry’, the reverse centre of the cross dated ‘Feby. 8, 1857’

(b) Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) breast badge, 18 carat gold and enamels, date letter indistinct, complete with gold ribbon buckle

(c) India General Service 1854-94, 1 clasp, Persia (Lt. A. T. Moore, 3rd Lt. Cavy.)

(d) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Lieut. A. T. Moore, 3rd Regt. Bombay Cavy.)

(e) Coronation 1902, silver, unnamed as issued, together with a quantity of fine original documentation relating to Moore’s service in India, including several ‘Record of Officers’ Services’ completed by Moore and with various corrections and amendments, light contact marks to the medals, otherwise good very fine
£80000-100000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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V.C. London Gazette 3 August 1860: ‘Arthur Thomas Moore, Lieut. and Adjutant, 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry. On the occasion of an attack on the enemy on the 8th Feb. 1857, led by Lieut.-Col. Forbes, C.B., Lieut. Moore, Adjutant of the regiment, was perhaps the first of all by a horse’s length [to reach the Persian bayonets]. His horse leapt into the square, and instantly fell amid the broken ranks of the enemy. Lieut. Moore speedily extricated himself, and attempted with his broken sword to force his way through the press; but he would assuredly have lost his life had not the gallant young Lieut. Malcolmson, observing his peril, fought his way to his dismounted comrade through a crowd of enemies, to his rescue, and giving him his stirrup, safely carried him through everything out of the throng. The thoughtfulness for others, cool determination, devoted courage, and ready activity shown in extreme danger by this young officer, Lieut. Malcolmson, appear to have been most admirable and to be worthy of the highest honour.’

Arthur Thomas Moore, the son of Edward Francis Moore of Carlingford, Co. Louth, and formerly of H.M’s 45th Regiment of Foot, was born on 20 September 1830, and was appointed Cornet in the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry in July 1850. He was promoted Lieutenant on 28 August 1855, and was appointed Adjutant from 7 August 1857. In 1856 he landed with his regiment south of Bushire at the start of the Persian Campaign and subsequently took part with the advance guard in the capture of the fort at Reshire. Thereafter he participated in the march to and from Boorzgoon and distinguished himself at the battle of Khushab, winning the Victoria Cross in the celebrated charge by a squadron of his regiment which broke the square of Persian infantry.

The success of the charge, in which his elder brother, Ross Moore (qv), also had a horse killed under him, greatly excited miltary experts as it was generally considered impossible for cavalry to break a square of steady infantry, although this had been famously achieved by British cavalry of the King’s German Legion at Garcia Hernandez in the Peninsula War, and more recently at Aliwal. However, at Khushab it was the only time that the feat was accomplished by Indian cavalry, and with remarkably little loss.

The charge was vividly described by an officer in a letter to a Calcutta newspaper: ‘When Forbes, who commanded this regiment, gave the order to charge, he and his adjutant, young Moore, placed themselves in front of the 6th troop, which was the one directly opposite the nearest face of the square. The other Moore [Ross], Malcolmson, and Spens came the least thing behind, riding knee to knee, with spurs in their horses flanks, as if racing after a hog. In the rear of them rushed the dark troopers of the 3rd, mad to avenge the death of poor Malet at Bushire. In spite of steel, fire, and bullets they tore down upon the nearest face of the devoted square. As they approached, Forbes was shot through the thigh and Spens’ horse wounded; but, unheeding, they swept onward. Daunted by the flashes, and the fire, and the noise, and crackle of the musketry, the younger Moore’s horse swerved as they came up. Dropping his sword from his hand and letting it hang by the knot at his wrist, he caught up the reins in both hands, screwed his head straight, and then coolly, as if riding at a fence, leapt him at the square. If, therefore, any man can be said to have been the first, the younger Moore is that man. Of course the horse fell stone dead upon the bayonets; so did his brother’s, ridden with equal courage and determination.

The elder Moore - 18 stone in weight, and 6 ft. 3 in. or thereabouts, in height - cut his way out on foot. Malcolmson took one foot out of his stirrup when he saw his brother officer down and unarmed (for his sword had been broken to pieces by the fall), and, holding on to that, the younger Moore escaped. The barrier once broken, and the entrance once made, in and through it poured the avenging troopers. On and over everything they rode, till, getting clear out, they re-formed on the other side, wheeled, and swept back - a second wave of ruin. Out of 500 Persian soldiers of the 1st Regular Regiment of Fars, who composed that fatedsquare, only twenty escaped to tell the tale of its destruction. Thus the 3rd Light Cavalry, to use their own phrase, gave our enemies a jewab (answer) for the death of Malet Sahib Bahadur.’

During the Mutiny, Moore served in the Central India Field Force under Sir Hugh Rose and was present at the siege and capture of Rathgahr, the action at Barodia, the relief of Saugor, the siege and capture of Garakota, the affairs on the Jumna, the capture of Calpee, the advance on and capture of Gwalior, action at Morar, the Battle of Jowra-Alipur, and the action of Khow-Mohoni. For his services in the suppression of the Mutiny he was twice mentioned in despatches; firstly by Sir Hugh Rose at Rathgahr, and secondly on 4 September 1858 for ‘gallantry in the capture of the enemy’s guns in difficult ground’. From 1859 to 1861, he again held the Adjutancy of the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry, and was briefly placed second in command when the regiment adopted the silladar system.

In July 1862, he was promoted Captain. He became Major in 1870 in the Bombay Staff Corps, and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1881. In 1887, he was made a Companion of the Bath, and on his retirement in June 1891, he was made Brevet Colonel and given the honorary rank of Major-General. General Moore, V.C., C.B., died of heart failure whilst suffering from influenza at his residence, 18 Waterloo Place, Dublin, on 25 April 1913.

Refs: Our Soldiers (Kingston); The Victoria Cross (Creagh).