THE RARE INDIAN ARMY LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL WITH ANCHOR REVERSE TO THOMAS DICKSON, 1ST MADRAS FUSILIERS (THE POST 1860 102ND ROYAL MADRAS FUSILIERS AND POST 1880 1ST BATTALION ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS), ONE OF ONLY FIVE INDIAN ARMY LSGC MEDALS

THE RARE INDIAN ARMY LONG SERVICE AND GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL WITH ANCHOR REVERSE TO SERGEANT THOMAS DICKSON, 1ST MADRAS FUSILIERS (THE POST 1860 102ND ROYAL MADRAS FUSILIERS AND POST 1880 1ST BATTALION ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS), ONE OF ONLY FIVE INDIAN ARMY LSGC MEDALS WITH ANCHOR REVERSE AWARDED TO THE MADRAS ARMY WHICH ARE KNOWN TO HAVE SURVIVED.

Indian Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, Victoria, 2nd type, anchor reverse (officially named, engraved in running script: Sergt. Thomas Dickson. 1st. Madras Fusiliers.). Attractive light tone, Extremely Fine and with a length of original ribbon.

Indian Army LSGC Medals with anchor reverse rare, only approximately 100 being awarded. Of these, some 30 are recorded as having survived, with just 5 of these surviving medals being awarded to Madras Army recipients.

Fred B. Larimore in his “The Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal” (Orders and Medals Research Society, 2014) records that, of the approximately 100 anchor reverse LSGC Medals were awarded between January 1858 and February 1861, some 29 of which were recorded by him as having survived, all the medals that he recorded as having survived being awarded to European soldiers, and of these, 17 were issued to The Honorable East India Company’s European regiments. Additionally, of the 29 medals known to Larimore, one was awarded to a Bombay Army recipient, 4 to Madras Army recipients and 24 were awarded to Bengal Army recipients. This medal to Thomas Dickson, not previously recorded by Larimore, now brings the known total of surviving anchor reverse Indian Army LSGC Medals to 30, and the known number awarded to Madras Army recipients to 5.

The actual origins of this rare anchor reverse LSGC Medal are something of a mystery, but it is believed that approximately 100 were manufactured in error in London and sent out to India in 1857. They are known to have been issued by all three Indian Presidencies, but the mistake was only discovered in 1861, by which time all 100 medals had probably been issued. In 1873, in response to an India Office request to explain the difference in design of these medals with anchor reverse for “Long Service and Good Conduct and Meritorious Service” to those previously supplied to the War Office, Mr Wyan, who struck the medals, stated “there is also a Naval Long Service Medal, but it has probably never been used”, which would indicate that these medals were originally intended to be issued to European members of the Indian Navy (hence the anchor reverse), but were instead issued to the armies of the East India Company Presidencies in error.

Since Thomas Dickson was awarded his LSGC Medal during the period January 1858 to February 1861, he presumably saw service during the Indian Mutiny and may perhaps have been awarded a medal for that campaign, his LSGC Medal therefore perhaps worthy of further research in that regard.

Another example of the rare anchor reverse Indian Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal was sold by Noonan’s on 11th February 2026 (lot 444). That medal, to a Quarter-Master Sergeant in a Native Infantry regiment (23rd Punjab Infantry) sold for £1,200 (£1,550 approx, including fees).