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Auction: 25111 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 68

'We have all heard the romantic story of the soldier whose life was saved at Waterloo by a packet of his lady-love's letters, which, carried next to his heart, deflected the otherwise fatal bullet from a French rifle. Some confirmation of the story is afforded by the case of Lieutenant Athol Lindsay Forbes, who was wounded recently during an engagement with the natives in Burmah. A bullet shattered his arm, and, glancing off, would have penetrated his heart but for the presence beneath his tunic a packet of letters from home. It had long been his custom to deposit his letters there, and when his tunic was removed by the surgeons, there, embedded in the mass of papers, was the flattened bullet, whose deadly course had thus providentially been stayed.'

So states a report in the Preston Herald on 8 July 1891, in fact referring to Lieutenant Lindsay Anstruther - not Athol Lindsay - Forbes.

The India General Service Medal awarded to Major L. A. Forbes, Indian Army, who was severely wounded as a subaltern in the 39th Garhwalis in the Chin Hills of Upper Burma in March 1891

Afterwards seconded for political employment, he was appointed H.M. Consul at Basra, whilst back home he replaced Ernest Shackleton as Secretary of the Scottish Geographical Society in 1905, the latter having resigned his post to contest Dundee at the pending general election

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1889-92 (Lieut. L. A. Forbes, 39th Bl. Infy.), good very fine

Lindsay Anstruther Forbes was born in Dalhonsie in the Punjab on 21 October 1865, the son of Major Frederick Murray Hay Forbes, an Indian Army officer and the scion of a well-known Aberdeenshire family.

Young Lindsay was originally commissioned in the Highland Light Infantry in November 1886 but transferred to the Indian Staff Corps in May 1888. Subsequently appointed a Wing Officer in the newly raised 39th Garhwalis - who had been formed from the old 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Goorkas - he quickly witnessed active service in the ongoing Burma operations.

In late March 1891, as part of an expedition bound for Tao and Tlantlang, Forbes was given command of 100 soldiers of the 39th Garhwalis, a force supported by two guns. The object of the expedition was to meet the Tlantlang chiefs to discuss recent incursions into Lushai, in addition to meeting messengers with letters from the Superintendent of the Southern Lushai Hills. The column reached Tao without opposition, although on the road it had ran into several armed Chins. However, they stated that they were merely on their way to attend a conference at Tlantlang. But the column's political officer later obtained intelligence of a different nature, namely that said Chins had intended to attack the column but backed off owing to lack of volunteers.

Evidence of that ill-intent quickly unfolded near Haka on the morning of 2 April, when the advance guard of homeward bound column came under a heavy fire from Chins on both sides of the road. Forbes dashed to the assistance of the advance guard, as one of the column's guns also got into action, but he was severely wounded in the process. His wound, as cited above, amounted to a shattered arm, but would have been fatal but for the saving grace of his pocket full of letters.

A full narrative account of the action is included, but by way of summary, the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs - Sir J. Fergusson, M.P. - made the following response to a question raised in the House of Commons by Forbes family's Aberdeenshire M.P.:

'The following telegram has been received from the Viceroy: reported from Chin country that a detachment - under Lieutenant Mocatta - detailed from Haka, was attacked April 4, while retuning towards Haka, by a large gathering of Chins of the Klanglang tribe. Lieutenant Forbes was wounded severely in the arm, five men killed and 12 wounded. This disturbance is believed to be local and unconnected with events on the Manipur side. Steps will be taken to punish the offending tribes.'

Forbes - who lost the use of his injured arm for the rest of his life - nonetheless remained on duty and obtained a secondment to political department. Fluent in Persian and Hindustani, he was appointed Her Majesty's Consul in Basra in August 1897 and later served as a Political Officer back in India, in charge of famine relief in the Malwa district. In a letter to one of his brothers, he wrote 'doing a splendid work amongst the Bhil children, keeping hundreds of them alive.'

Having then transferred to the supernumerary list as a Major in November 1904, Forbes applied for the post of secretary to the Scottish Geographical Society, in place of Ernest Shackleton, who had resigned to contest a Dundee seat in the general election of 1905. The scale of Forbes suitability and popularity may be gleaned from the fact there were over 300 applications for the post. He died in April 1953.

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Sold for
£650

Starting price
£320