Indian General Service Medal to LIEUTENANT (LATER LIEUTENANT-COLONEL) G.A. ELLIOT, ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT, WHO KEPT A DETAILED RECORD OF THE SERVICES OF THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT DURING THE BURMESE WAR OF 1852-53 AND THE CRIMEAN WAR OF 1854-55,

LIEUTENANT (LATER LIEUTENANT-COLONEL) G.A. ELLIOT, ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT, WHO KEPT A DETAILED RECORD OF THE SERVICES OF THE ROYAL IRISH REGIMENT DURING THE BURMESE WAR OF 1852-53 AND THE CRIMEAN WAR OF 1854-55, THAT WAS REFERRED TO EXTENSIVELY BY LIEUTENANT-COLONEL G. LE M GRETTON IN HIS REGIMENTAL HISTORY. ELLIOT WAS WOUNDED IN ACTION DURING THE CAPTURE OF RANGOON IN 1852. India General Service Medal 1854-95, 1 clasp, Pegu (officially impressed: LIEUT. G.A. ELLIOT, H.Ms. 18th. REGt.). Attractively toned, Good Very Fine to Almost Extremely Fine.

Medal accompanied by biographical details, copied extracts army lists of the period, extracts 1881 and 1901 census returns and probate record.

George Augustus Elliot (1829-1904) was born in Ireland in 1829. He was first commissioned Ensign, 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, 10/12/1847 and promoted Lieutenant, 7/3/1851, Captain, 26/1/1855, Major, 7/8/1866 and Lieutenant-Colonel, 9/11/1866. Lieutenant Colonel Elliot retired by sale of his commission in 1872, having served continuously with the Royal Irish Regiment for 25 years. He is recorded in the 1881 census as a 52 year old retired Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry living at “Belcamp”, Cambridge Park, Twickenham, Middlesex with his 34 year old wife and 9 children. Elliot is recorded in the 1901 census as a 72 year old retired Lieutenant Colonel living in the parish of St Simon, Southsea, Hampshire with his wife and a daughter. He died in Hampshire on 22/7/1904, age 75, leaving an estate valued at £38,608.

Lieutenant Colonel Elliot served with the Royal Irish Regiment throughout the Burmese War of 1852-53 (awarded India General Service Medal with Pegu clasp) and saw service with the storming party at the capture of Martaban, and aboard HMS Rattler during the destruction of the river stockades. He also took part in the operations before Rangoon, 12 – 13 April 1852, including the capture of the White House Stockade, and took part in the assault on and capture of Rangoon, 14/4/1852, when he was wounded in action. Elliot subsequently saw service during the Crimean War, taking part in the siege and capture of Sebastopol, including the final attack on the Redan, 18/6/1855, during which the Royal Irish Regiment lost 1 officer killed and 10 wounded, and 97 other ranks killed, 2 mortally wounded and 103 wounded (also entitled Crimea Medal with Sebastopol clasp and Turkish Crimea Medal). Elliot also saw service in India during the Indian Mutiny and commanded the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment in New Zealand during the closing stages of the Maori Wars, but on both latter occasions arrived after the fighting had ended and as a result was not entitled to a campaign medal for either of these campaigns.

Lieutenant Colonel Elliot kept a diary of the Burma and Crimean campaigns which is referred to and quoted from extensively in the regimental history. The following description of the attack on Martaban, largely based on Elliots diary, has been extracted from the regimental history:

When the ships containing the Bengal contingent reached the mouth of the Rangoon river on April 2, 1852, Major-General H. Godwin, who was in command of the troops, sent a vessel under a flag of truce to inquire whether any answer had been received from the King of Ava to the letter containing the British demands for redress. The Burmese replied by firing on the flag of truce, and Godwin, not feeling strong enough to attack Rangoon until the Madras contingent had joined him, sailed for the capital of Tenasserim, Moulmein, at that time threatened by the garrison of the neighbouring Burmese city of Martaban. On the morning of the 5th of April the fleet opened fire upon Martaban, and under cover of the bombardment the right wing of the XVIIIth and part of the 80th landed a storming party, led by the grenadier companies of these two regiments, scaled the wall, and in a short time the place was in our hands. Thanks to the diary of the late Colonel G. A. Elliot, then a subaltern in the Royal Irish, interesting particulars have been preserved of this little fight, in which the younger men in the regiment were in action for the first time. Under a heavy but badly directed fire the grenadiers dashed across the twenty yards of ground between the waters edge and the main defence of the city, a thick wall fifteen feet high and about eight hundred yards in length. Here the enemys bullets began to take effect among the Royal Irish. Colonel Elliot writes that

Private Fergusson received three in his left arm, and died of his wounds, John Donovan two in his left hand, Coleman one through his left arm. We ran up and got close under the wall in extended order the General was seen to take off his hat and give a cheer, which our men returned and then quickly sprung up the wall, (which was overgrown with shrubs) and rushed upon the Burmese, who quickly retired to some jungle, whence they fired, though without much effect. While surmounting the wall one of our officers noticed a man in the regiment get on to the top and look intently into a large bush below him. Still gazing intently, he loosed a brick, flung it down into the bush, raised his musket and shot a Burmese who had been hiding there in cover. We then advanced, and joining part of the 80th, and one of our own companies, skirmished up one of the hills enclosed by the wall, driving the Burmese before us, and charging them whenever they appeared in numbers. The hill was very steep, and obstacles existed in the shape of felled trees with branches pointing downwards. At the top was a Pagoda, surrounded by a wall mounted with gingals, but as there was no resistance, the men rested here for an hour in the shade. We then moved down a lane which led towards the next hill after advancing about two hundred yards we came to an open space where the bullets began to fly over our heads from the hill in front. The men halted, and Lieutenant-Colonel Reignolds, XVIIIth, who was acting Brigadier, halted for reinforcements: but as soon as the Burmese saw that we had stopped, they began shouting and challenging us to come on, and after a while they poured down the hill towards us. Colonel Reignolds now allowed the men to charge, and with a cheer they dashed forward. The enemy ran back to a wall on the top of the hill and began a badly aimed fire Glesson, Grenadier Company, was struck in the mouth. The enemy evacuated the hill.

After clearing a third hill the detachment whose fortunes Elliot has described joined the main body, and as the enemy were completely routed all marched back to the beach. The casualties in this affair were eight wounded, seven of whom were men of the Royal Irish but many soldiers were struck down by the sun, a warning, unhappily disregarded, against the folly of wearing in the tropics the same uniform as that in use in the United Kingdom. In the despatch describing the capture of Martaban the following officers of the regiment were mentioned, viz., Lieutenant-Colonel Reignolds Captain A.N. Campbell, on whom devolved command of the wing when Reignolds was ordered to act as Brigadier, and Captain A. Gillespie, Grenadier Company, who was the first man over the enemys fortifications.