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Auction: 24112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 349

Pair: Purser L. Wilson, Indian Navy

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Persia (L. Wilson, Purser. Ajdaha, S.F); China 1857-60, 1 clasp, Taku Forts 1860 (Purser L. Wilson H M Str. Ferooz I N.), light contact wear, very fine (2)

Provenance:
Dix Noonan Webb, May 2016.

Lindsay Wilson was born on 25 January 1833 in Bombay, the son of John Henry Wilson, a commander in the Indian Navy, and his wife Charlotte. His father is remembered for commanding the paddle steamer HCS Hugh Lindsay, the first steamship built in Bombay. John Wilson, aboard Hugh Lindsay, played a key role in pioneering the mail route between Suez and Bombay. He volunteered for this expedition due to his desire to be the 'first steam navigator of the Red Sea', embarking for the initial voyage on 20 March 1830. He successfully cut the journey time of months down to roughly 40 days, and made the same journey six more times.

He embarked on one of these subsequent voyages on 14 January 1833, thus missing his son's birth just 11 days later. One can imagine that the name of her husband's ship may have informed Charlotte's naming of her son 'Lindsay'. In 1836, John Wilson became comptroller of the Bombay Dockyard and later retired in 1838. The Wilson family moved to England by 1841, the census of that year recording the family of seven as then living at St. Peter's Square, Hammersmith, Middlesex.

It is unknown when Lindsay Wilson followed in his father's footsteps and enlisted in the Navy, but he was serving as a Purser aboard the steam frigate Ajdaha during the conflict with Persia in 1856-7. The Ajdaha was present at the Battle of Mohammareh on 26 March 1857 where she was part of the bombardment of the Persian forts, allowing the British army to successfully capture the city. 133 'Persia' clasps were issued to European crewmen of the Ajdaha.

In 1860, Wilson was serving aboard the steam frigate Ferooz, which in that same year notably conveyed Lord Elgin, Her Majesty's High Commissioner, to the Court of Pekin in China. Also in the same year, Ferooz was one of just three ships, alongside the Coromandel and the Prince Arthur, that participated in the operations against the Taku Forts.

Wilson died at just 37 years old on 10 February 1870 at his home on Bedford Row, Holborn, London and was buried in the All Souls' Cemetery, now Kensal Green, in London. His death appeared in the London Gazette on 15 March 1870; sold together with copied research.

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Sold for
£1,000

Starting price
£950