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

The Indian Mutiny medal to Master Walter Smith, one of the ‘Ragged Fusiliers’ of La Martinière College during the siege of Lucknow

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Defence of Lucknow (W. Smith) very fine £1500-2000

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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Confirmed on the roll as one of the fifty or so boy pupils at La Martinière College, Lucknow. The Roll of Honour to the staff and boys at La Martinière College records him as Walter Kenneth Smith.

La Martinière was once the residence of the French General Claude Martin and established as a college for European and Eurasian boys in his memory. During the siege the elder boys, though not officially combatant, were armed with muskets and helped their masters in the defence of their quarters. The younger boys helped with some of the domestic work when servants deserted, or carried messages and ammunition to the posts. Whilst they were known as the ‘Ragged Fusiliers’ by the soldiers of the 32nd, L. E. R. Rees, in his diary of the siege, makes known his disapproval of the tasks given to them:

‘The poor Martinière pupils, who go about the garrison more filthy than others, and apparently more neglected and hungry even than we are, are made use of to drive away these insects (flies) from the sick in hospital, and others. That they, too, should contribute their share of usefulness is but just and fair; but that they should be placed in menial attendance upon the healthy great in the garrison is, in my opinion, far from right. But I shall say nothing more on this subject, lest I assume a tone of censure.'

Refs: Tourists’ Guide to Lucknow (Hilton); Constantia, The Magazine of La Martinière College, Centenary Number 1945.