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Auction: 24113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 112

Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Kandahar (1534. Pte. J. Smith, 66th Foot), pitting and contact wear, otherwise very fine

John Smith was born in St. Margarets Parish in Leicester circa 1848 and worked as a labourer prior to attesting with the 6th (Royal Warwickshire) Regiment on Foot at Leicester on 5 June 1869. He later transferred to the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot the next year on 1 February 1870. Soon after his transfer, Smith disembarked at India with his Regiment to join the Kandahar Field Force in the Second Afghan War.

Smith was present in the detachment of the 66th Foot made up of the 'A' and 'E' companies that missed the Battle of Maiwand and were instead sent to Kalat-i-Ghilzai. The detachment also joined the Kabul to Kandahar march to relieve the city from Ayub Khan's siege, arriving and defeating the enemy on 1 September 1880. During the battle the 66th Foot was present in the 1st Brigade Field Reserve and suffered no casualties. Soon afterwards, the Regiment left for India and from there proceeded to return home to England in February 1881. The 1881 census records Smith at the Military Barracks at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight.

Smith became one of only seventeen other members of the Regiment to serve both in Afghanistan and Tofrek when the 1/Berkshires disembarked at Alexandria on 27 July 1882. The unit stormed Dihilbat Hill and forced a Dervish retreat at the Battle of Hashin on 20 March 1885. They were immediately in action again at the Battle of Tofrek two days later. The 1/Berkshires had piled arms in McNeill's zariba just southwest of Suakin. The Dervishes attacked at 14:30 while the unit was away cutting brush, with one of the battalions rushing back to repel the enemy away from the northern wall of the redoubt. The other battalion formed square in the centre, alongside the R.M.L.I., and successfully stopped the Dervishes who had broken through and swept into the central zariba. Their victory at Tofrek earned the Berkshire Regiment the 'Royal' title.

The Regiment moved to the Nile Frontier and arrived at Wadi Halfa in Sudan on 16 November 1885. The next month they advanced to Kosesh and were engaged at the Battle of Ginnis on 30 December where General Grenfell defeated the Dervishes; this engagement also marked the last time that the Berkshire Regiment appeared in red on the battlefield.

They returned to Wadi Hulfa where early in the new year Smith suffered a leg wound in an apparent accident and spent several months in hospital. Smith was eventually discharged on 7 May 1889 after eighteen years of service 'with a mind to pension'; sold together with copied research.

Smith is further entitled to a Kabul to Kandahar Star, Egypt and Sudan Medal with clasps for Suakin 1885 and Tofrek, and a Khedive's Star.

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Sold for
£160

Starting price
£70