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Auction: 24113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 111

Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Kandahar (2051, Corpl. J. Lowe, 2/7th Foot), glue residue on riband, light contact marks, very fine

Jesse Lowe was born at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in 1851 and enlisted in the Royal Bucks King's Own Regiment of Militia on 6 October 1866. He was also a shoemaker by trade until his attestation with the 2/3rd (East Kent) Regiment of Foot on 21 January 1870 at Aldershot when he was nineteen years old. He was not to serve long with the 2/3rd Foot, however, and transferred to the 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot on 30 November 1871. He was posted to the East Indies in January 1872 to serve with his Regiment there. Lowe transferred for the final time to the 2/7th (Royal Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot on 11 November 1877 whilst stationed in India. He was advanced Lance Corporal just one week after joining his new Regiment. A couple of years later, Lowe extended his service to complete twenty-one years with the Colours and was promoted Corporal in June 1879.

Lowe was posted to Southern Afghanistan in February 1880 for service in the Second Afghan War. His Regiment arrived at Kandahar from Quetta on 26 April and remained there when General Burrows began his march to the Helmand River to support the Wali against the hostile Ayub Khan. However, General Burrows and his Brigade were to be overwhelmed at the Battle of Maiwand where the British faced staggering losses. After Maiwand, Ayub Khan commenced his Siege of Kandahar in August 1880.

Lowe was in one of the four companies of the 2/7th Foot sent as a sortie to the Deh Khojah village, east of Kandahar, on 16 August in an attempt to clear out the enemy. The Regiment suffered over fifty men killed or wounded, with Private Thomas Ashford being awarded the Victoria Cross for rescuing a wounded comrade and carrying him to safety while under enemy fire. General Roberts arrived in Kandahar later that month after marching from Kabul and defeated Ayub Khan at the Battle of Kandahar on 1 September; Lowe was noted as an 'Escort to Guns' during the engagement. No casualties of the 2/7th Foot were reported.

The Regiment left Afghanistan for India in late October and from India returned home to England, arriving in May 1882. The next year, Lowe was discharged at Hounslow on 27 February 1883 being medically unfit for further service. The 1991 census records him as living as a lodger at 111 Amity Road in Reading; sold together with copied research.

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Sold for
£160

Starting price
£70