Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (5527 Pte. R. Clark 1st. Bn. Gord. Hrs.) suspension slack, contact marks and edge bruising nearly very fine £140-£180

R. Clark attested for the Gordon Highlanders, and served with the 1st Battalion in India during operation on the Punjab Frontier as part of Lieutenant-General Sir William Lockhart’s Tirah Expeditionary Force, during which a proportion of the 1st Battalion took part in the attack on the Dargai Heights, 20 October 1897:

‘... the Highlanders lay under cover while the guns concentrated their fire for three minutes on the summit. When the moment for action came, Colonel Mathias addressed them in these simple and soldier-like words, which sent a thrill not only through his own men but through the whole of the British Empire - “The General says this hill must be taken at all costs - the Gordon Highlanders will take it.”
Realising that as it was useless to make the ascent in dribs and drabs, Colonel Mathias decided that the regiment would advance en masse, reasoning that some would surely reach the crest. After a momentary hush the Highlanders assured their Colonel with a hearty cheer that his confidence in them was not misplaced - “The Gordon Highlanders will advance in close order! Officers and pipers to the front!” The pipe-major swung his plaid and his drones over his shoulder with a magnificent gesture, and struck up “Cock of the North” and then, with their Colonel at their head as in the days of old, the Highlanders rushed forth and with them the impatient remnants of those who had tried before. Furious volleys swept from above, and many a bullet found its billet on that jostling crowded neck, but nothing could stop the rush. The Highlanders swarmed up the steep slope with such determination that the enemy did not wait for the final assault but fled in all directions.’

During the attack on the Dargai Heights the Gordon Highlanders suffered 4 officers and 34 men killed, and 14 officers and 147 men wounded. Piper George Findlater and Private Edward Lawson were both awarded the Victoria Cross for their gallantry in this action, and additionally seven men of the regiment were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Transferring to the 2nd Battalion, Clark subsequently served with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War (entitled to a Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps for Elandslaagte, Defence of Ladysmith, Laing’s Nek, and Belfast, and the King’s South Africa Medal with two clasps).

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