Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Western Front’ I.D.S.M. pair awarded to Jemedar Kale Khan, 8th Cavalry, Indian Army

Indian Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (Jemdr. Kale Khan, 8th Cavy.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Jemdr. Kala Khan, 8 Cavy.); together with a Colonial Police L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue (8784 Const. Kala [sic] Khan s/o Mir Zaman, Fed. Malaya Police) minor edge bruise to last, good very fine (3) £800-£1,000

John Tamplin Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, March 2009.

Kale Khan entered the Indian Army on 12 September 1890 and was commissioned Jemedar in the 8th Cavalry on 1 July 1915. He served during the Great War attached the to 2nd Lancers, and was awarded the I.D.S.M. ‘for gallantry and distinguished service in the field’ on the Western Front, by General Order 536 of 16 March 1918 (Gazette of India 1918, p.399). He is listed in the April and July 1921 Indian Army Lists as the senior Jemedar in the 8th Cavalry, and no longer appears in the January 1922 Indian Army List.

The Colonial Police L.S. & G.C. was awarded to Constable Kala Khan as a Constable in the Federation of Malaya Police in 1949 (Federation of Malaya Government Gazette 3 November 1949); given the fact that it is a relatively common name, and that the ex-Jemedar would have been in his mid-70s when he was awarded his Long Service Medal, it is probable that these medals were not all awarded to the same man.

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