Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Lieutenant R. B. Norton, 35th Bengal Native Infantry, who was wounded at the Tazeane Pass in September 1842

Defence of Jellalabad 1842, Flying Victory (R. B. Norton, 35th Regt. B.L.J.) contemporarily re-engraved naming in upright capitals; Cabul 1842 (R. B. Norton 35th Regt. B.L.J.) contemporarily re-engraved naming in upright capitals, both medals fitted with replacement small rings and silver bar suspension, contact marks, otherwise toned, very fine (2) £600-£800

Robert Bruce Norton is confirmed on the list of officers presented with medals for Jellalabad (as Lieutenant in 35th Bengal N.I.) and is also named in a list of officers who were wounded in the action of 13 September 1842, in the Tazeane Pass, two days before Pollock entered Cabul. He was court martialed on 16 July 1849 at Barrackpore for having absented himself from his quarters without leave, amongst other charges, during which time he took himself to Calcutta and did not reappear until the following day. Found guilty, he was sentenced to be ‘publicly and severely reprimanded’. The full detail of this case was reported in Allen’s Indian Mail and can be accessed online. It is possible that Norton forfeited his medals as a result of this court martial and subsequently acquired replacements which he had re-engraved to suit.

Norton’s death was reported in the Gentleman’s Magazine for October 1852:
‘15 August 1852 - At St John’s-hill, Wandsworth, aged 30, Robert Bruce Norton, Lieutenant 35th Bengal Light Infantry, third surviving son of the late Sir John Davis Norton, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court at Madras.’

A ‘Typescript journal and letters of Capt (sic) Robert Bruce Norton, 35th Bengal Native Light Infantry at Jellalabad, 8 Oct 1841 to April 1842’, are held by the National Army Museum (Accession No 1968-07-224).