Jellalabad Medal

 

The First Anglo-Afghan War 1839 - 1842.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Jellalabad Medal was a British Empire campaign medal presented for service during the First Anglo-Afghan War. The medal was instituted in April 1842 and was awarded to the troops under the command of Sir Robert Sale for the defence of Jalalabad from 12 November 1841 to 16 April 1842.

 

 

There were two issues of this medal which had different designs:-

 

The first issue is circular, 39mm in diameter and was struck in silver. The obverse of this medal depicts the 'Mural Crown' with the inscription; 'JELLALABAD' above.

 

The reverse shows the date; 'VII APRIL 1842'.

 

The second issue is also circular, 35mm in diameter and was also struck in silver. The obverse of this medal bears the head of Queen Victoria with the inscription; 'VICTORIA VINDEX' or; 'VICTORIA REGINA'.

 

The reverse depicts the winged figure of Victory with a laurel wreath in her right hand and the Union Jack in her left. The upper half of the reverse also bears the inscription; 'JELLALABAD VII APRIL' with the date; 'MDCCCXLII' appears below.

 

Of the second issue only a very few medals were struck with the inscription; 'VICTORIA REGINA'.

 

The ribbon suspender is of a straight steel design which was either fixed directly to the medal or by a small ring.

 

The first type was issued un-named while the second type has the recipient's details on the medal's rim in indented block letters.

 

The second version (also known as the 'Flying Victory' type) was introduced after it became apparent that there were not enough medals produced to cover all those who were entitled. On the instruction of the Governor General, who felt that the first issue (that was struck in Calcutta) was of a crude finish and so a redesign was commissioned and undertaken by William Wyon which was produced in London.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 44mm wide and the watered rainbow colour common to most Honourable East India Company medals. It is red on the left edge fading into white, which changed to yellow in the centre, fading back to white, until finally changing to blue at the right edge.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The First Anglo-Afghan War.

- The Battle Of Jellalabad.

- The 1842 Retreat From Kabul.

- The Honourable East India Company.

- The Army Of The Honourable East India Company.

 

The First Anglo-Afghan War - The First Anglo-Afghan War (also known as Auckland's Folly) was fought between the Honourable East India Company and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842; 4,500 British and Indian soldiers, plus 12,000 of their camp followers, were killed by Afghan tribal fighters.

 

It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Battle Of Jellalabad - The Battle of Jellalabad in 1842 was an Afghan siege of the isolated British outpost at Jellalabad (now Jalalabad) about 80 miles (130 km) east of Kabul. The siege was lifted after five months when a British counterattack routed the Afghans, driving them back to Kabul.

 

The outpost was no more than a wide place in the road with a fort, held by about 2,000 troops under General Sir Robert Sale. After the massacre of the British force during their retreat from Kabul in January 1842, Jellallabad was surrounded by Afghan forces which launched a series of attacks on the force.

 

The British managed to beat off the assaults, and even captured 300 sheep from the besieging force when rations ran short. Eventually, after five months under siege, Sale mounted an attack against the Afghan forces, captured their main camp, baggage, stores, guns, and horses and the Afghans fled to Kabul.

 

The defence of Jellalabad made heroes of the 13th Foot. It is reported that as the regiment marched back through India to return to Britain every garrison fired a ten gun salute in its honour. Queen Victoria directed that the regiment be made Light Infantry, carry the additional title of 'Prince Albert's Own' and wear a badge depicting the walls of the town with the word 'Jellalabad'.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The 1842 Retreat From Kabul - The 1842 Kabul Retreat (or Massacre of Elphinstone's Army) took place during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Following an uprising in Kabul, Major General Sir William Elphinstone negotiated an agreement with Akbar Khan, one of the sons of King Dost Mohammad Khan of Afghanistan, by which his army was to withdraw to the British garrison at Jalalabad, more than 90 miles (140 km) away. As the army and its numerous dependents and camp-followers began its march, it came under attack from Afghan tribesmen. Many of the column died of exposure, frostbite or starvation or were killed during the fighting.

 

The Afghans launched numerous attacks against the column as it made slow progress through the winter snows of the Hindu Kush. In total the British army lost 4,500 troops, along with 12,000 mainly Indian camp-followers. The final stand was made just outside a village called Gandamak on 13 January.

 

Out of more than 16,000 people from the column commanded by Elphinstone, only one European (Assistant Surgeon William Brydon) and a few Indian sepoys reached Jalalabad. A few dozen British prisoners and civilian hostages were later released.

 

Many of the British and Indians died of exposure, frostbite or starvation or were killed during the fighting. Around 2,000 of the Indians, many of whom were maimed by frostbite, survived and returned to Kabul to exist by begging or to be sold into slavery. Some at least returned to India after another British invasion of Kabul several months later, but others remained behind in Afghanistan.

 

In 2013, a writer for The Economist called the retreat '…the worst British military disaster until the fall of Singapore exactly a century later'.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Honourable East India Company - The East India Company, originally chartered as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies, and more properly called the Honourable East India Company, was an English and later (from 1707) British joint-stock company formed for pursuing trade with the East Indies but which ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent, Qing Dynasty China, North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan.

 

Commonly associated with trade in basic commodities, which included cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpetre, tea and opium, the Company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth in 1600, making it the oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies. Shares of the company were owned by wealthy merchants and aristocrats.

 

The government owned no shares and had only indirect control. The Company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own private armies, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions. Company rule in India effectively began in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey and lasted until 1858 when, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown assuming direct control of India in the era of the new British Raj.

 

The company was dissolved in 1874 as a result of the East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act passed one year earlier, as the Government of India Act had by then rendered it vestigial, powerless and obsolete. Its functions had been fully absorbed into the official government machinery of British India and its private presidency armies had been nationalised by the British Crown.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Army Of The Honourable East India Company - The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India. The presidency armies were named after the presidencies: the Bengal Army, the Madras Army and the Bombay Army. Initially, only Europeans served as commissioned or non-commissioned officers. In time, Indian Army units were garrisoned from Peshawar in the north, to Sind in the west, and to Rangoon in the east.

 

The army was engaged in the wars to extend British control in India (the Mysore, Maratha and Sikh wars) and beyond (the Burma, Afghan, First and Second Opium Wars, and the Expedition to Abyssinia).

 

The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the Company until the Indian Rebellion of 1857, when the Crown took over the Company and its three armies. In 1895 the three presidency armies were merged into a united Indian Army.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.