Seringapatam Medal

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Seringapatam Medal
Seringapatam Medal obv.jpg Seringapatam Medal rev.jpg
Obverse and reverse of a silver Seringapatam medal
Type Campaign medal
Awarded forParticipation in the Battle of Seringapatam, April–May 1799
Presented by Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg Honourable East India Company (HEIC)
Campaign(s)Part of Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
Established1801
TotalAbout 54,000:
113 gold
185 silver gilt
3,636 silver
5,000 bronzed
45,000 tin.
Seringapatam Medal 1799.JPG
Ribbon of the medal

The Seringapatam Medal, or Sri Ranga Pattanam Medal, is a campaign medal that was awarded by the Governor-General of India to all British and Indian soldiers who participated in the British victory in the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799.

Contents

Criteria

The 1799 siege and capture of Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore, was the culmination of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. It resulted in the death in battle of Tipu Sultan of Mysore, with Mysore becoming a princely state within British India. [1]

The Seringapatam Medal was commissioned by the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) in 1801 to reward all ranks of both the British and Indian armies who contributed to the British victory, [2] including those who set out for the campaign but did not finally take part. [3] This was the first HEIC campaign medal awarded to both Indian and British troops on the same basis. Those eligible included the Swiss mercenary unit, the Regiment de Meuron. [4]

The original medal was minted in England in 1801–2, but only sent out to India in 1808, for distribution to dignitaries and to troops from the presidencies of Bombay and Madras. [5] This issue was presented in various metals determined by the rank and status of the participant: [6] in gold to the highest-ranking commanders, Indian princes and other dignitaries; in silver-gilt to intermediate officers including majors and senior HEIC officials; in silver to more junior officers; in bronze to native commissioned and senior non–commissioned officers and to European sergeants and equivalent; and in tin/pewter to corporals and other ranks, both British and Indian. [7]
A second issue of the medal was struck in Calcutta, India in 1808 for award to troops of the Bengal Presidency. The Presidency, apparently unaware of the original award criteria, followed the precedent set by the earlier HEIC campaign medals for the Deccan and Mysore and awarded medals in gold to native officers and in silver to native non–commissioned officers and other ranks. [8]

Although commonly worn in uniform, formal permission to wear the medal was only granted to officers in HEIC service in 1815, [9] and to members of the British Army in 1851, upon the decision not to grant a separate Seringapatam clasp to the newly instituted Army of India Medal. [10]

In addition to the medals, those present received prize money, varying from £100,000 for General Harris, the Commander-in-Chief, and £10,000 to other general officers to £7 for each private soldier. [8]

Description

The medal, designed by Conrad Heinrich Küchler, had the following design: [8]
The obverse shows the British lion trampling a tiger, Sultan Tipu's emblem, [6] [2] with a pennant above bearing the Arabic caption Asad Allah al-Ghalib (Arabic : أسـد الله الـغـالـب), which translates as The Victorious Lion of God. Below is the date of the fort's capture: IV MAY MDCCXCIX.
The reverse displays the storming of Seringapatam Fort with, above, the sun at its zenith. Below is an inscription in Persian Seringapatam, God given 28 day of the month zikadah, in the Hijri year 1213. [11]
It was issued unnamed, although some recipients had their details engraved on the medal.

The original medals, with a diameter of 1.9 inches (48 mm), were manufactured at the Soho Mint in Birmingham, England in 1801–2. Additional gold and silver medals were produced by the Calcutta Mint in 1808. These were of poorer workmanship and are slightly smaller, with a diameter of 1.8 inches (46 mm) and slightly thinner. [7]

The Soho Mint medals were awarded without any means of suspension for wear, [12] with recipients arranging their own, which included both ring and bar suspenders. [8] The Calcutta Mint medals were issued mounted with a flattened loop for suspension. [5] Although there was no formal regulation, the medal was usually worn on the left chest from a watered pale orange ribbon, with the shading representing the stripes of a tiger, Tipu's emblem. [9] However, British officers frequently adopted the blue edged red ribbon used for the Army Gold Medal, and worn around the neck by general officers and on the left chest by more junior officers. [13] Some native Indian soldiers wore the medal around the neck from a yellow cord, as was the practice for other HEIC medals. [8]

While no clasps were authorised, some officers added an unofficial clasp bearing the word Seringapatam. [5]

Number awarded

In total, about 53,934 medals were awarded: [8]

MakerGold medalsGilt medalsSilver medalsBronze medalsPewter medals
Soho Mint, Birmingham301858505,00045,000
Calcutta Mint83–2,786––
Total1131853,6365,00045,000

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tipu Sultan</span> Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1782 to 1799

Tipu Sultan, commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was the Indian Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery. He introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including a new coinage system and calendar, and a new land revenue system, which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry. Tipu was also a pioneer in introducing Channapatna toys. He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin. He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Srirangapatna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Srirangapatna</span> Town in Karnataka, India

Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated around AD 984. Later, under the British rule, the city was renamed to Seringapatnam. Located near the city of Mandya, it is of religious, cultural and historic importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Pollilur (1780)</span> Battle of the Second Anglo-Mysore War

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Mysore Wars</span> Conflicts mainly between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company (late 1700s)

The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars fought during the last three decades of the 18th century between the Sultanate of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company, Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Travancore, and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the other. Hyder Ali and his succeeding son Tipu fought the wars on four fronts: with the British attacking from the west, south and east and the Nizam's forces attacking from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu, and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which took control of much of the Indian subcontinent.

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The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Confederacy, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo-Mysore Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourth Anglo-Mysore War</span> 1799–99 conflict in the Kingdom of Mysore

The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Seringapatam (1799)</span> Mysorean-British battle

The siege of Seringapatam was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British, with the allied Nizam Ali Khan, 2nd Nizam of Hyderabad and Marathas, achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel. The leader of the British troops was Major General David Baird, among the lesser known allies were the Portuguese in Goa and Damaon. Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler after the death of his father, who had usurped the throne of Mysore, was killed in the action. The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty back to power after the victory through a treaty of subsidiary alliance, Krishnaraja Wodeyar III was crowned the King of Mysore. However, they retained indirect control of the kingdom's external affairs.

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References

  1. ↑ George Childs Kohn (31 October 2013). Dictionary of Wars. Routledge. pp. 322–323. ISBN   978-1-135-95494-9. Archived from the original on 8 November 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  2. 1 2 "The Seringapatam Medal". The Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Mayo, John Horsley (1897). Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Volume 1. A. Constable & Co. p.  145 . Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  4. ↑ "No. 15180". The London Gazette . 14 September 1799. p. 921.
  5. 1 2 3 Mayo, John Horsley (1897). Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Volume 1. A. Constable & Co. pp.  134-137. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  6. 1 2 "Seringapatam Medal (Gold)". The Fitzwilliam Museum. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 Steward, William Augustus (1915). War Medals and Their History. London: Stanley Paul & Co. p.  11-14. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Joslin, Litherland and Simpkin. British Battles and Medals. pp. 23–24. Published Spink, London. 1988. ISBN   0907605257
  9. 1 2 Captain H. Taprell Dorling. Ribbons and Medals. p. 56. Published A.H.Baldwin & Sons, London. 1956.
  10. ↑ Mayo, John Horsley (1897). Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Volume II. A. Constable & Co. p.  335 . Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  11. ↑ Maya Jasanoff (2007). Edge of Empire: Lives, Culture, and Conquest in the East, 1750–1850. Random House. ISBN   978-0-307-42571-3. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  12. ↑ John Mussell (ed). Medal Yearbook 2015. p. 116. Token Publishing Ltd. Honiton, Devon. ISBN   978-1-908-828-16-3
  13. ↑ For example, British commander General Harris wore his medal around the neck. His son, a Lieutenant at the battle, wore it on his chest. See Mayo p 136.
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