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Auction: 24113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 382

Pair: Bombardier A. Dinney, 6/8th Brigade, Royal Artillery

Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Kandahar (5775. Ag.Bombr. A.Dinney. 6/8th Bde. R.A.); Kabul to Kandahar Star 1880 (5775 Act. Bombr. A. Dinney 6th.Baty.8th.Bde. R.A.), regiment partially obscured due to contact wear, pitting and contact marks, otherwise very fine (2)

Alfred Dinney was born in Gorran, Cornwall circa 1854, the son of William Dinney, a labourer, and his wife Ann. Dinney joined the Royal Artillery on 2 November 1875 and was serving in the No. 6 Battery, 8th Brigade when they arrived at Peshawar - where it was later converted into a mountain battery in 1879. They left Peshawar for Afghanistan on 16 March 1879 and arrived in Kabul in April 1880. The unit began the march from Kabul to Kandahar on 9 August 1880, after the start of Ayub Khan's siege of Kandahar. During the march to relieve the city the battery was in MacPherson's first infantry brigade. They arrived at Kandahar and defeated Ayub Khan on 1 September, with the 6/8th shelling Gundi Mullah Sahibad before the attack by the infantry.

Dinney was discharged from the Colours at Woolwich on 23 December 1887. The 1891 census shows the 37-year-old Dinney working as a grocer and residing as a boarder at 110 Trelowarren Street in Camborne, Cornwall. He was married in 1893 in Redruth, near Camborne. Dinney appears to have lived the rest of his life in Cornwall and died in Redruth in 1908; sold together with copied and handwritten research.

Only 94 Kandahar clasps and 91 Kabul to Kandahar Stars were awarded to the unit. The Stars were allegedly made from melted down guns captured from Ayub Khan.


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Sold for
£290

Starting price
£200