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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Victory medal to "104 Rifles"


SteveB

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Hi,

I have a Victory medal named to someone in the 104 Rifles.

I did a Google search on 104 Rifles, but it came up with nothing of note.

Can anyone shed some light on who they were?

Cheers

SteveB

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Steve

Can you give us the name?

Possibly 104th Wellesley's Rifles of the Indian Army.

Dave

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  • 3 years later...

hey.. am serving in what was thn 104 Wellesley's, now in Indian Army.. can you give more details about it.. if indeed it belongs to someone from 104 Wellesley's, it would be great knowing more about it...

Akhil

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Definitely the Indian Army. The IA regiments had, I believe, 130 line regiments. Many reflected the area and religion of the recruitment area ie 47 Sikhs, 92 Punjabis or 130 Baluchis. Some just used the regiment number, possibly through multi-culture recruitment, and the 104th Rifles is one of these. Sometimes a name is added, such as Wellesley's Rifles, because the regiment was formed by, or had their figurehead, a notable person, but that name is rarely added to the medal's naming.

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1. Ya.. The Bn fought under Arthur Wellesley in 1800s in Central India... and "4" of 104 came from its previous designation of 4th regiment the rifle corps...

2.The title Wellesley's is still used by my Battalion.... Right now i am shuffling through the archives to find out any mention of tht name "Ismail"... is there any date etched on it..?

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Right now i am shuffling through the archives to find out any mention of tht name "Ismail"... is there any date etched on it..?

I think the original poster indicated it was a Victory Medal - so it would be for someone (R.M. Ismail, service number 4317) who saw service with the unit during the 14-18 period and was issued with the medal in 1919-2?.

Chris

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What a coincidence!

See here

We're definitely talking about 104th Wellesley's Rifles, Indian Army. They maintained one company of Punjabi Musalmans (Muslims).

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1. Ya.. The Bn fought under Arthur Wellesley in 1800s in Central India... and "4" of 104 came from its previous designation of 4th regiment the rifle corps...

2.The title Wellesley's is still used by my Battalion.... Right now i am shuffling through the archives to find out any mention of tht name "Ismail"... is there any date etched on it..?

Out of interest, Wiki says the 1/6th (Wellesley's) Rajputana Rifles became the 3rd Battalion, Brigade of Guards, but the Indian Army website doesn't enter specifics. Is Wiki correct?

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Thanks. Go on then: the Brigade of the Guards - presumably all battalions are re-designations of former regimental titles (such as 1st Raj Rif)? Is it possible to have a list, please?

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i dint quite understand.. wat is it tht you want..? only 1st Bn of Rajputana rifles got converted to Guards.. rest all are carrying designation of Rajputana Rifles

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Thanks - what interests me is The Guards. I assume all the battalions of that unit are former battalions of other units (such as 1/6 Raj Rif being 3rd Guards). I just wondered what battalions had transferred.

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only first 4 battalions are converted.. rest are all newly raised... 1st Bn Bde of the Guards was 2/2 Punjab... 2nd Bn Bde of the Guards was 1st Grenadiers regimant, 3rd Bn Bde of the Guards was 1/6 Raj Rif(Wellesley's) and 4th Bn Bde of the Guards was 1 Rajput Regiment...

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I think the original poster indicated it was a Victory Medal - so it would be for someone (R.M. Ismail, service number 4317) who saw service with the unit during the 14-18 period and was issued with the medal in 1919-2?.

Chris

the unit was using the name "wellesley's" from 1903 to 1923..

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only first 4 battalions are converted.. rest are all newly raised... 1st Bn Bde of the Guards was 2/2 Punjab... 2nd Bn Bde of the Guards was 1st Grenadiers regimant, 3rd Bn Bde of the Guards was 1/6 Raj Rif(Wellesley's) and 4th Bn Bde of the Guards was 1 Rajput Regiment...

Thanks. Most interesting.

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As a matter of interest, the British in India referred to the Rajputana Rifles familiarly as the Large Banana Trifles!

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No, me neither.

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You certainly do learn every day, although "Large Bana Trifles" or "Raspberry and Bana Trifles" ... pays your money and takes your choice, I suppose.

I can honestly say I've never heard it before though..

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  • 5 years later...
On 24/05/2013 at 21:02, akhil872002 said:

1. Ya.. The Bn fought under Arthur Wellesley in 1800s in Central India... and "4" of 104 came from its previous designation of 4th regiment the rifle corps...

2.The title Wellesley's is still used by my Battalion.... Right now i am shuffling through the archives to find out any mention of tht name "Ismail"... is there any date etched on it..?

I have one medal of Afghan War. (Pt. Mohidin Khan)

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