Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Bde. Serjt. John Purdue, 1st. C, 2nd. Bn. Bombay Arty.) light polishing to high relief points, very fine £300-£400

John Purdue was born in Tullamore, Ireland, in 1826, and attested for the Honourable East India Company’s Artillery Regiment at Newry on 17 July 1848. A clerk by profession, he witnessed extensive service in central India during the Mutiny. He was raised Brigade Major on 28 July 1857, and later re-engaged for a further nine years. Discharged on 24 August 1867 whilst attached to “D” Battery, 18 Brigade, Purdue’s papers indicate that he intended to begin a new life in Paramata, Sydney. It appears that life in Australia appealed to Purdue and he died in Richmond, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, some 24 years later.