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Auction: 26002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 151

The rare and exciting Afghanistan Medal awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel A. D. Enriquez, 16th Bengal Native Infantry, late Royal Malta Fencible Artillery, the second Officer of that unit to transfer to the British Army and one of three native Maltese Officers on the roll for Afghanistan, who went on to command a Battalion of the Bengal Native Infantry

Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Lt. A. D. Enriquez. 16th Ben. N.I.), with a silver riband buckle, good very fine

Albert Dallas Enriquez was born in Malta on 17 March 1854, the son of Giovanni Enriquez, a Quartermaster with the Royal Malta Fencible Artillery. Commissioned Lieutenant with the Royal Malta Fencible Artillery on 17 November 1874, he was one of the first men to take advantage of a Royal Warrant which had come into effect on 14 October 1874. This warrant which allowed officers of the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Malta Fencible Artillery to transfer to the British Army, assuming they met the conditions of the warrant.

Enriquez was the second officer to meet these conditions and as such transferred to the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment as Second Lieutenant on 5 September 1877, this feat is elsewhere attributed to an officer named Semini who transferred in 1880. Transferring to the 40th Foot, stationed at Bombay, Enriquez arrived with them on 1 May 1878 and from there was promoted Lieutenant with the Royal Irish Rifles on 31 August 1878.

Joining the South Afghanistan Field Force he was stationed in the Bolan Pass when he was selected to serve as a Staff Officer and joined the Transport Train. During this time he is noted as 'mentioned in reports' (The Afghan Campaign of 1878-1880 by S. H. Shadbolt refers). Transferring to the Bengal Staff Corps on 19 July 1880 whilst in Kandahar he was attached to the 16th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry. The unit served in the Khyber Pass during the final year of the conflict making Enriquez the only member of the unit to serve in theatre during both campaigns of the war.

Advanced Captain on 14 November 1885 he was further advanced Major on 14 November 1891. Appearing upon an Army list as second-in-command and wing commander of the 17th Bengal Native Infantry at Agra in July 1894 he was further advanced Lieutenant-Colonel in 1895 before transferring to the 18th Rajputs as Commandant in 1896.

An article in the Daily Malta Chronicle states that he was further promoted Brigadier-General in command of 12,000 men in India. However since no London Gazette record of any promotion has been found it seems likely that this was at best a temporary appointment. Relinquishing command of his battalion in March 1903, Enriquez retired in January 1910.

His two children, John and Colin, both served - with John a member of the Royal Malta Artillery and Colin an officer in both the British and Indian Armies, who served during the Great War and wrote Khyberie In Burma. Settling at Menton in the French Riviera Enriquez remarried an English woman, his first wife having died in India, and lived until 6 March 1940; sold together with a large quantity of copied research and a slip of issue for the award of a British War Medal, seemingly to the recipient's son.

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Estimate
£700 to £900

Starting price
£550