Description
Indian Army Meritorious Service Medal, VR, Honourable East India Company issue.
Known as the Indian Meritorious Service Medal (for Europeans of the Indian Army).
Edge neatly engraved: “SPECIMEN”
An attractive specimen of a rare medal in excellent condition.
This scarce medal was established by the East India Company in 1848, to be awarded for long and meritorious service of at least 21 years to members of the H.E.I.C. Army, as members of the British Army had their own example which the HEIC did not qualify for.
Awardees of the medal would typically be veterans of the Candahar, Ghuznee and Cabul campaigns, Maharajpoor/Gwalior, Punjab and Sutlej Wars or Indian Mutiny.
It was only awarded until 1873 when it was absorbed into the standard Meritorious Service Medal.
