Indian Order of Merit/Burma Gallantry Medal

[dutchbarge]

Hello,

I have been trying to suss out a large grouping of medal ribbons that came with a Colonel's cuff rank tunic. Atop several 1880-90's Egypt, Afghanistan, South African and WW1 ribbons, and following the DSO, are the Indian Order of Merit and the Burma Gallantry Medal. Google has been less than definitive in stating what the requirements were for receiving the Indian Order of Merit and the Burma Gallantry Medal. I have no idea of when these awards were granted (other than pre Indian independence).

Could someone please tell me the years these awards were granted and whether or not a BRITISH officer (as opposed to an Indian or Burmese native) could win either of these awards?

Cheers, Bill

[rflory]

The Indian Order of Merit was instituted in 1837 and discontinued in 1947. You do not mention which version you have, but the award was only given to Indian officers and men. The Burma Gallantry Medal was instituted in 1940 and was initially awarded to officers and men of the Burma Army, frontier forces, military police, Burma RNVR and Burma AAF. In 1945 it was restricted to NCOs and men. It would be highly unlikely that a British officer would receive either award and it would also be very unlikely that someone would have served in Egypt in 1882 and still be serving to receive an award not instituted to 1940 (he would have to be in his 70s at least!) Dick Flory

[27thBN]

I agree looks like self awarded to me. MC,

[Staffsyeoman]

Agree with Dick. Exceedingly unlikely that a British Colonel would have an IOM or a BGM - these were meant for native soldiers only. Might it be an assemblage of ribbons for theatrical costume purposes?

[dutchbarge]

Thanks all, for your information. When I acquired the osd jacket the individual ribbons were sewn up into 3 ribbon bars (which are stiffened with cardboard or jute) and tack stitched to a piece of cloth which was rolled up and placed in one of the jacket's bellows pockets. The IOM and BGM ribbons were NOT on a ribbon bar but were safety pinned individually to the cloth along with the ribbon bars. I removed the ribbon bars from the piece of cloth and laid them on the tunic's breast in chronological order where they matched the 'ghosts' and puckering perfectly. There were no 'ghosts' or puckering to accommodate the IOM or BGM so I figured that even though they were pinned to the same piece of cloth they didn't belong to the jacket. How they ended up there (or why the original ribbons were removed from the jacket and stitched to the clothe) is anyone's guess. I am grateful for your confirmation of my own deductive reasoning.

Cheers, Bill

[dutchbarge]

Here is a foto of the ribbon bars as they once were mounted on the OSD jacket. Cheers, Bill

[dutchbarge]

They are (I believe) DSO, South Africa Medal 1877-79, Afghanistan Medal 1878-80, Egypt Medal 1882-89, British South Africa Company Medal 1890-97, Khedive's Star 1882-91 (slightly darker than normal), India General Service Medal 1895-91, Khedive's Sudan MEdal 1896-1908, QSA Medal, KSA Medal, Khedive's Sudan Medal 1910, 1914 Star, BWM, VM.

They appear to be in the correct order.

Cheers, Bill

[Staffsyeoman]

Bill,

Anyone with that rack who was an officer would almost certainly have to have been a General by 1914, with over 30 years (continuous by the look of this) service... It's not quite right (but may have been put together in good faith), and I'm puzzled by one thing.

First - a Khedive's Sudan 1896-1908 but no Queen's Sudan. Odd for a British officer.

Second, the Khedive's Star, the Khedive's Sudan 1896 and the Khedive's Medal 1910 should be up the back, in that order, as foreign awards.

You'd have to be forensic, but stitching together how all these might have been earned without hopping around units seems odd.

[dutchbarge]

All good (and troubling) points. Indeed, I emailed the party from whom I acquired the jacket and related all the info from this thread. Their reply stated that they had mistakenly sent the wrong ribbons and would promptly send the correct ones which they had just 'come across'. I wonder if they would have ever 'come across' the correct ribbons had I not, on the strength of all your replies to this thread, written them. If and when these ribbons arrive I'll post them on this thread.

Thanks for all your help!

CHeers, BIll

[Staffsyeoman]

Sounds like good jacket, carp (misprint) ribbons... Please advise when the 'correct' ones arrive - but DO keep these as they are all contemporary silk and not modern polyester. You could sell them to a ribbon collector (they do exist)

[dutchbarge]

Sounds like good jacket, carp (misprint) ribbons... Please advise when the 'correct' ones arrive - but DO keep these as they are all contemporary silk and not modern polyester. You could sell them to a ribbon collector (they do exist)

The original ribbons have arrived (original according to the vendor). A bit disappointed at them. All very common I'm afraid. QSA, 1914 Star, WM and VM. Not to sound overly cynical but I'm sure the vendor used the other ribbons to put some sparkle on the jacket (not that an osd colonels cuff rank jacket needs extra sparkle). On the other hand, though a bit of a come down, I suspect they are probably the correct ones as the first set, purported to be the original, were pretty flash for a colonel! Thanks for all your help!

Cheers, Bill