Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1894-5 (1852 Pte. F. Wimble 1st. Bn. Devon. Regt.) edge bruise, very fine, rare to unit £240-£280

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore.

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1 Officer and 8 Men from Devonshire Regiment served with the Maxim Gun Detachment during the Waziristan Expedition 1894-5 and received the India General Service Medal with clasp Waziristan 1894-5. The was the first occasion the machine gun was used in action by the British Army.

Fredrick Wimblel  as baptised at Bathampton, Bath in 1866. He had a chequered youth and having been found guilty of Housebreaking was sent to Reformatory for 5 years in 1882. Following his release he enlisted for the Devonshire Regiment circa 1887. Embarking in 1891 with the 1st Battalion he served in Egypt and then India being stationed in Rawalpindi, and was part of the detachment of 1 officer and 8 men from the battalion that formed the Maxim Detachment to join the Waziristan Expedition on 23 October 1894. Transferring to the Reserve in 1895 he is recorded as suffering from Ague (Malaria) and, unable to find work, he committed suicide by hanging at Bath on 12 March 1896, aged 29.

Sold with copied research.