Beschreibung:

The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals The important group to Field-Marshal Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., Commander-in-Chief Madras Army, at least seven times wounded in his numerous battles and actions, described as the ‘bravest of the brave’ by Lord Gough, and ‘the very soul of chivalry’ by Sir Charles Napier (a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Military) G.C.B., sash badge in 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1875; and silver breast star with appliqué centre in gold and enamels (b) Ghuznee 1839 (Neville B. Chamberlain, En. 16th Regt. Grenrs.) reverse of the suspension bar fitted with gold pin for wearing (c) Candahar Ghuznee Cabul 1842 (Neville B. Chamberlain, Lieut. 1st Cavalry, S.S.F.) fitted with wide scroll suspension (d) Maharajpoor Star 1843 (Neville Bowles Chamberlain, Gov. Gen. Body Guard) with silver bar suspension fitted with gold pin for wearing (e) Punjab 1848-49, 2 clasps, Chilianwala, Goojerat (Lieut. N. Chamberlain, Brig. Majr. Bengal Army) (f) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Delhi (Brigr. Genl. N. B. Chamberlain) (g) India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, North West Frontier, Umbeyla (Brig.-Genl. Sir N. B. Chamberlain, Comg. Punj. Irr. Force) (h) Empress of India Medal 1877, gold, the edge inscribed (Lieut. General Sir Neville B. Chamberlain, GCB. GCSI. Commander-in-Chief Madras Army 1877) the campaign medals on original wearing bar as worn by the Field-Marshal, good very fine or better £20000-25000 Footnote Neville Bowles Chamberlain was born at Rio de Janeiro on 10 January 1820. He was the second son of Sir Henry Chamberlain the Consul-General and Chargé d’Affaires in Brazil, and his second wife, Anne Eugenia, the daughter of William Morgan of London. At the age of thirteen Chamberlain was nominated for a Cadetship at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, by Lord Beresford, with the intention that he should join the Engineers. But since he spent most of his probationary year brawling with the other Cadets it was deemed highly unlikely that he would pass the final examination and he was withdrawn from the R.M.A. He returned home in rebellious mood - threatening to join Sir De Lacy Evans’s Spanish Legion. His future, however, was settled when he was nominated for the Bengal Service by George Lyall on the recommendation of J. H. Buckle, and commissioned Ensign on 24 February 1837. He arrived at Fort William in June of the latter year, and served briefly with the 12th N.I. at Barrackpore, the 52nd at Nusseerabad, and the 55th at Lucknow, prior to transferring on 28 August to the 16th N.I. at Delhi, which corps his brother Crawford (See Lot 94) was soon to join. It was no coincidence that the boys were placed together. The Commander-in-Chief in India, Sir Henry Fane, was an old friend of their father’s, and he had indicated a wish that they should be given the earliest chance of active service. The 16th N.I. was under orders for Afghanistan. The 16th N.I. marched with the Bengal Column of the Army of the Indus and, on 26 April 1839, entered Candahar. On 21 July the Bengal and Bombay Columns under Sir John Keane arrived before the fortress of Ghuznee and came under fire from several walled gardens which surrounded the fort. The leading brigade was ordered to clear the gardens and this was swiftly completed, but one garden, inside an outwork, which enfiladed the river, still needed to be cleared. Accordingly the Light Companies of the 16th and 48th Native Infantry were sent forward and Chamberlain performed his first act of gallantry in the field. A matchlock ball struck Captain Graves, the commander of the 16th’s Light Company, ‘on the collar bone, which it smashed and glided down into the lungs’. ‘I immediately went to him’ Chamberlain wrote in a letter home, ‘and persuaded him to let me help him from the gardens to the regiment. We were now obliged to expose ourselves to the fire of the whole of the city walls, and seeing he was wounded they