SERGEANT J. SHERARD, EAST INDIA COMPANY’S MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT (THE POST 1860 102ND ROYAL MADRAS FUSILIERS AND POST 1880 1ST BATTALION ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS). Army of India Medal 1799-1826, Indian issue variety, with long hyphen on reverse, 1 clasp,

SERGEANT J. SHERARD, EAST INDIA COMPANY’S MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT (THE POST 1860 102ND ROYAL MADRAS FUSILIERS AND POST 1880 1ST BATTALION ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS). Army of India Medal 1799-1826, Indian issue variety, with long hyphen on reverse, 1 clasp, Ava (officially engraved naming in a style similar to that seen on other Indian issue Army of India Medals, engraved in a combination of running script and serifed capital letters: “Serjt.” (in running script) and “J. SHERARD EUB REG.” (in serifed capitals)). Attractively toned, Good Very Fine to Almost Extremely Fine.

Note error in naming details, “EUB” in error for “EUR”.

113 Ava clasps awarded to the East India Company’s Madras European Regiment.

Medal accompanied by biographical details, copied extract marriage register and extract published medal roll, confirming medal and clasp.

The Sherard family tree, which can be found on Ancestry, includes a biographical sketch for John Sherard.

John Sherard (1797-1859) was born Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. He married Charlotte Smith at Secunderabad, Madras, on 14/1/1818. Sherard’s marriage certificate records that, at the time of his marriage he was serving as a “Private in the M.E.R.” (Private in the Madras European Regiment). Sherard died at Vizagapatatam, Madras Presidency, India on 1/1/1859, aged 62.

The issuing of the Army of India Medal 1799-1826 was announced from East India House on 25/2/1851, with the army in India being notified on 14/4/1851 and recipients who were resident in India claimed their medals via the three Presidencies, Bengal, Bombay and Madras, with the medals themselves being distributed to recipients in India from 1852 onwards. The fact that this is an Indian issue of the Army of India Medal confirms that it was issued to Sherard as a recipient resident in India at the time of issue.

Of the two varieties of this medal, the British issue with short hyphen reverse, issued to recipients resident in the UK at time of issue, and the Indian issue with long hyphen reverse, issued to recipients resident in India at the time of issue, the Indian issue is the scarcest, since by the time the medal was issued in the early 1850s the vast majority of recipients were no longer resident in India.

The Madras European Regiment (the post 1860 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers) had its origins in an independent company of European infantry that saw service in Madras during the reign of Charles I (1625-1649), the first military force raised for service with the East India Company. It was thus, as the Regimental History of the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers notes, “the oldest of the old Indian regiments”. Prior to the Ava campaign of 1821-1826, the regiment and its parent units had seen extensive service in India during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.