Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Sutlej 1845-46, for Aliwal 1846, 1 clasp, Sobraon (Gunner R: Hamer 2nd. Brigade H:Ay.) edge bruise, very fine £240-£280

Richard Hamer was born in Liverpool around 1806. A soap boiler by trade, he attested at Westminster for the Bengal Artillery on 27 February 1833, and sailed for India aboard the Severn, arriving on 26 December 1833. The life of a Bengal Artilleryman at around this time is beautifully detailed in the book From Recruit to Staff Sergeant by N. W. Bancroft, a contemporary of Hamer, who fought in the early battles of the First Sikh Wars and served some 38 years. Marching night after night in pelting rain, the climate was often as hostile - if not more so - as the local native inhabitants.

Hamer saw his first battle at Aliwal on 28 January 1846 with 1st Troop, 2nd Brigade, under the command of Captain J. Turton. A couple of weeks later he fought at Sobraon with the 3rd Troop, 2nd Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery, under Lieutenant-Colonel J. Alexander. Likely transferred to make up the numbers following the Horse Artillery losses at Moodkee and Ferozeshah, the 3/2 Brigade witnessed vicious fighting when the defences were breached and the Sikh line collapsed; the Horse Artillery galloped to the banks of the Sutlej River and swept the enemy with grape and shot. Hundreds were killed or drowned, the enemy losing an estimated 13,000 men, the British some 2,383.

Raised Corporal, Hamer joined the 2nd Company, 6th Battalion, Bengal Foot Artillery around 1849. He returned home to Liverpool soon thereafter, being noted in 1851 as ‘Pensioner, East India’.

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