Meritorious Service Medal (Honourable East India Company), issued between 1848 & 1873Image["Meritorious Service Medal (East India Co.), 1848-1873"]
Obverse, a bust of Queen VictoriaImage["Meritorious Service Medal (East India Co.), 1848-1873"]
Reverse, the Company arms with standards and lion rampant above, a banner with the motto "Auspicio regis et senatus Angliae" below
Meritorious Service Medal (East India Co.), 1848-1873
With the introduction in 1845 of the
Meritorious Service Medal for home troops of the Empire, it was not long before the Honourable East India Company thought it sensible to issue their own parallel award, which was therefore instituted in 1848. Although the East India Company's forces became part of the Royal Army in 1858 with the Company's dissolution, the issue of this decoration for troops in the theatre was discontinued only in 1873.
This medal is unnamed, and its recipient cannot be determined. Lester Watson acquired it at some point before 1928.