Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Major J. C. Hay, 60th Bengal Native Infantry, Indian Army

Cabul 1842 (Ensign. J. C. Hay. 60 Beng: N.I.) contemporary engraved naming in small serif capitals, silver swivel suspender and straight bar, a later striking with ‘frosted’ head to Monarch; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Delhi (Capt. J. C. Hay, 2nd. Bengal Fusrs.) fitted with matching silver straight bar riband suspensions, in fitted case of issue, the Cabul Medal likely an official replacement for a Medal lost in the Mutiny, nearly extremely fine and better (2) £800-£1,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals - The Property of a Gentleman.

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John Charles Hay was born on 5 September 1821, the eldest son of William Hay of Hopes, Haddington, a former Captain in the Honourable East India Company’s Maritime Service and named entrant in the 5th Edition of Burke’s Landed Gentry of 1871. Baptised at Haddington Episcopal Church on Michaelmas Day 1821, Hay was privately educated in East Lothian and later studied classics and mathematics at Edinburgh Academy. Commissioned Ensign in the 80th Regiment of Foot (Staffordshire Volunteers) on 4 October 1839, he sailed to India per John Colvin 4 November 1840 and was appointed Ensign in the Honourable East India Company 12 December 1840, upon recommendation from his uncle, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Hay, in command H.E.I.C. Depot at Chatham. Posted to the 60th Native Infantry at Ferozepore, Hay arrived at Fort William on 11 April 1841.

Sent on active service to Afghanistan in 1842, the 60th Native Infantry earned the battle honour ‘Cabool 1842’ and Hay received the Cabul Medal. Raised Lieutenant on 5 February 1843, he led his men to Kernaul and thence to Benares and Barrackpore. Placed on furlough from 1848 to 1850, he rejoined the men at Cawnpore and became Senior Lieutenant at Umballa in 1854. Promoted Captain on 25 February 1855, Hay witnessed the outbreak of the Mutiny at Umballa and participated in the action at Delhi with the 2nd Bengal Fusiliers; furloughed once again to England, he retired as Brevet Major on 30 June 1859. Named in the Retired List from 1859, Hay died in London on 8 October 1874.

Sold with extensive research, including a detailed report on the family lineage of the Hay of Hopes, as derived in part from Burke’s Landed Gentry; photographs of the family house (’Hopes’) situated upon the right bank of Hopes or Gifford Water, nine miles to the south-east of Haddington; a copy of the Will of Major John Charles Hay; with extensive handwritten correspondence from the 1960s between a former custodian and other medal collectors/institutions.