India General Service Medal (1909)

India General Service Medal
Obverse and reverse of medal
with Afghanistan NWF 1919 clasp.
Awarded by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Type Campaign medal
Eligibility British and Indian forces.
Awarded for Campaign service.
Campaign(s) India 1908–35.
Description Silver or bronze disk, 36mm diameter.
Clasps
  • North West Frontier 1908
  • Abor 1911–12
  • Afghanistan NWF 1919
  • Mahsud 1919–20
  • Waziristan 1919–21
  • Malabar 1921–22
  • Waziristan 1921–24
  • Waziristan 1925
  • North West Frontier 1930–31
  • Burma 1930–32
  • Mohmand 1933
  • North West Frontier 1935
Statistics
Established 1909
Ribbon: 32mm, green with broad blue central stripe.

The Indian General Service Medal (1909 IGSM) was a campaign medal approved on 1 January 1909,[1] for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies. From 1919 it was also awarded to officers and men of the Royal Air Force, with the Waziristan 1925 clasp awarded solely to the RAF.[1]

The 1909 IGSM was awarded for various minor military campaigns in India from 1908 to 1935. Each campaign was represented by a clasp on the ribbon; 12 were sanctioned.[2]

Clasps

Description

The medal is 36 millimetres (1.4 in) in diameter.
For early campaigns it was awarded in silver to combatants and in bronze to native bearers and servants. From 1919 onwards all awards were in silver.[1]
There are three versions of the obverse:[3]

The reverse depicts Jamrud Fort at the Khyber Pass with the word ‘India’ below between a wreath of oak and olive branches.[1]

From 1920, those mentioned in despatches in a campaign for which the medal was awarded could wear a bronze oakleaf on the medal ribbon.[1]

Waziristan 1925

The Medal with the Waziristan 1925 clasp was awarded to only 46 officers and 214 men of the Royal Air Force who took part in Pink's War. It is by far the rarest clasp given with an India General Service Medal and was only awarded after the then Chief of the Air Staff Sir John Salmond succeeded in overturning the War Office decision not to grant a medal for Pink's War.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Joslin, Litherland and Simpkin. British Battles and Medals. p. 220. Published Spink, London. 1988.
  2. ↑ Medals Yearbook 2003, p. 160.
  3. ↑ John W. Mussell, editor. Medal Yearbook 2015. p. 174. Published Token Publishing Limited, Honiton, Devon. 2015.
  4. ↑ Laffin, John (1964). Swifter than Eagles. A biography of Marshal of the RAF Sir John Salmond. William Blackwood & Sons Ltd. pp. 207–208.

Bibliography

  • Mackay, J and Mussel, J (eds), Medals Yearbook - 2006, (2005). Token Publishing.
  • Joslin, Litherland, and Simpkin (eds), British Battles and Medals, (1988). Spink
  • Mussell, John W. (ed), Medals Yearbook - 2015. Token Publishing.
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