Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 23113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 187

The Victory Medal awarded to Captain T. H. Battye, 10th Gurkha Rifles, a scion of the famous 'Fighting Battye's', a family renowned for generations of military service in India

Victory Medal 1914-19 (Capt. T. H. Battye.), very fine

[O.B.E.] London Gazette 12 June 1941.

Thomas Howard Battye was born in London on 12 November 1887 and, like many of his forebears and relations was commissioned into the Indian Army, being noted as advancing from Second-Lieutenant to Lieutenant in December 1910 (London Gazette, 20 January 1911, refers). Initially serving with the 1st Battalion 10th Gurkha Rifles, he was present at the great Delhi Durbar of 1911 and is noted on that Medal Roll with entitlement to the Medal in a Civil capacity with the Burma Government.
Transferring at some stage to the 2nd Battalion, Battye served with his men in the Middle East (defending the Suez Canal against an attempted Ottoman invasion) before moving on to the Dardanelles Campaign: the 10th landed at Cape Helles in May, fighting at the Battle of Gully Ravine and participating in the August Offensive. By the time of the final evacuation, the battalion had suffered very heavy casualties and Battye undoubtedly experienced more than his fair share of fighting. Next deployed to Mesopotamia, the 10th saw further action in the offensive against Baghdad in 1917 and the final battle of the campaign, Sharqat, in October 1918.

Remaining with the Indian Army during the Inter-War period and into the next World War, Battye was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) in 1941 as Director of Statistics in the Government of India, Department of Supply. He appears to have retired, due to having reached the maximum age for military service, on 28 July 1944; he retired to England and died at Worthing in Sussex in June 1969.

Sold with copied Delhi Durbar Medal Roll extract and London Gazette entry for the O.B.E.

Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£85

Starting price
£20