Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Mr. William Edwards, Bengal Civil Service, Magistrate and Collector of Budaun at the outbreak of the Mutiny, whose adventures he later recounted in several publications

Maharajpoor Star 1843 (William Edwards B.C.S. Present in attendence on the Governor General Lord Ellenborough) top point pierced and fitted with ring and swivel-bar suspension; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Mr. Wm. Edwards, Bengal C.S.) both fitted with silver ribbon buckles, very fine (2) £900-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Alan Wolfe.

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William Edwards was born at Inverness on 24 June 1816, son of John Edwards, solicitor, later Receiver-General of Jamaica. He was educated at Haileybury, from January 1836 to March 1837, and was assigned first place in the list of students leaving the college for the Bengal Civil Service. He arrived at Calcutta in October 1837, having travelled overland in company with an officer of the 50th Queen’s Regiment, to establish the feasibility of sending mail to India by other than the lengthy route via the Cape of Good Hope. From 1839 to 1843, Edwards held a succession of civil appointments and in the latter year was appointed Under-Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign department, and it was in that capacity that he was present at the battle of Maharajpoor, in attendence on the Governor General, Lord Ellenborough. His description of the battle is contained in his Reminiscences of a Bengal Civilian, published in London in 1866, in which he also illuminates in detail the political manoeuverings that attended the Sikh wars, having been himself charged with securing the loyalty of the newly installed Maharajah of Patiala and preventing his troops from joining forces with the Sikh army.

In 1848, Edwards was appointed Superintendent of Hill States and Magistrate and Collector of Simla. He was in England on furlough from 1853 to 1855, and on his return was appointed Collector and Magistrate of Buduan. It was at this small field station in Rohilcund that his dramatic experiences at the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 began. They are described at length in the volume he published in 1858, Personal Adventures During the Indian Rebellion in Rohilcund, Futtehghur and Oude. Alone at Buduan, having sent his wife and child away to safety at Naini Tal, Edwards was determined not to abandon his post, but his situation soon became untenable, the local sepoy battalion having mutinied and released some 3,000 criminals from prison, who then reinforced mutineers from Bareilly. He had by then been joined by other stragglers from the surrounding area and, together, they escaped Buduan on horseback, accompanied by two trusted servants, an Afghan and a Sikh. They crossed the Ganges under fire and began a wandering search for safety that was to last three full months. In time they reached Fateghur, where they were joined by the Collector, George Probyn (brother of Sir Dighton), his wife and four children. Together, they took sanctuary with a well-disposed local zamindar, Hurdeo Buksh, and remained hidden on his estate for nearly two months. Many attempts were made to move on but always abandoned at the last minute by news of disturbing events in the surrounding area. During this trying time two of the Probyn children died and when, finally, the zamindar could no longer guarantee their safety, the party set out by boat to Cawnpore, recently re-taken by General Havelock, and where they arrived, near exhaustion, on 31 August.

Havelock, in his memoires, observed that Edwards ‘was of a mercurial temperament, capable of going through anything, whilst his nerves were braced by hope and expectation. Probyn, less excitable, looked in poor health from insufficient food. As soon, however, as he was restored to an English diet, he picked up at once. But the other, when the tension was relaxed, was visibly enfeebled and worn down.’

Edwards was soon afterwards appointed as Civil and Sessions Judge at Futtehpore. He went on furlough to England in 1859 and on his return to India in 1860 served several judicial appointments at Agra, culminating in his promotion as Judge of the High Court there for the North-West Provinces. He retired the following year to England and eventually died at Petworth, Sussex, on 3 December 1890. In addition to the two works mentioned above, Edwards wrote several others, including Sketches in Scinde, London, 1846, and a book of Indian Traditions, reprinted by order of the House of Lords in 1853. He was also editor of Treaties & Engagements between the Hon. East India Company and the native powers in Asia, Calcutta, 1845, and Sir G. Lawrence’s Reminiscences of Forty-three Years in India, 1874.