Punjab Medal | |
---|---|
Obverse and reverse of the medal. | |
Awarded by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | |
Type | Campaign medal |
Eligibility | British and Honourable East India Company forces. |
Awarded for | Campaign service. |
Campaign(s) | Punjab 1848–49. |
Description | Silver disk, 36mm diameter. |
Clasps |
|
Statistics | |
Established | 2 April 1849 |
Ribbon bar of the medal |
The Punjab Medal was a campaign medal issued to officers and men of the British Army and Honourable East India Company who served in the Punjab campaign of 1848-49, which ended in the British annexation of the Punjab. [1]
The medal was approved on 2 April 1849, for award to all who served in the Punjab between 7 September 1848 and 14 March 1849. [2]
Three clasps were authorised, although no medals were awarded with more than two, since no unit qualified for both the Mooltan and Chilianwala clasps. [3] The medal was issued without a clasp to those who were present in the Punjab but did not take part in any of the principal battles. [3]
The three clasps awarded were:
The clasps read downwards from the top of the medal, varying from the usual practice of placing the earliest clasp nearest the medal. [1]
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company in 1845 and 1846. It resulted in partial subjugation of the Sikh kingdom and cession of Jammu and Kashmir as a separate princely state under British suzerainty.
The Second Anglo-Sikh War(First War of Sikh Independence) was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province, by the East India Company.
Major General Sir Henry Tombs VC KCB was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
The North-West Frontier was a region of the British Indian Empire. It remains the western frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the modern Pakistani frontier regions of North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan from neighbouring Afghanistan in the west. The borderline between is officially known as the Durand Line and divides Pashtun inhabitants of these provinces from Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan.
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The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the Company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by the child Maharaja Duleep Singh who was in British custody in Lahore. The Sikh army was defeated by the British regular and Bengal Army forces of the British East India Company. After it capitulated a few days later, the Punjab was annexed to the East India Company's territories and Duleep Singh was deposed.
The Siege of Multan was a prolonged contest between the city and state of Multan and the British East India Company. The siege lasted between 19 April 1848, when a rebellion in the city against a ruler imposed by the East India Company precipitated the Second Anglo-Sikh War, and 22 January 1849, when the last defenders surrendered.
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