James Hoard

Sash badge and riband of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Auspicious Phoenix. And order limited to ladies and the last order to be created by the independent empire of Korea. Cheers, James

Sash badge and riband of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Purple Falcon. Cheers, James

Sash badge and incorrect riband of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Eight Tigrams. Cheers, James

Sash badge and probably wrong riband of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Plumb Blossom. Note, 'plumb bossom' is a translation of the Chinese character for "Yi" the name of the reigning dynasty. The plumb blossom was thus taken as the badge of the family. Cheers, James

Sash badge and riband of the Grand Cordon of the Auspicous Stars, the second most important order in the Korean order of precedence. Cheers, James

Hi, The sash is incorrect but the first breast star is the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Eight Tigrams (L), the second is the Grand Cordon of the Taeguk Order of Merit ® as is the badge suspended from the sash. They are the wrong way round, the Taeguk being senior to the Eight Tigrams. Cheers, James

Hello Hugh, Are you sure this is actually Dutch? Why would the Dutch be issuing medals with bilingual text. "Hollande" is French, is it not? There are also no obvious signs of tradition symbolism associated with the House of Orange. Perhaps this is some private commemorative medal for French or Belgian personnel who may have served during the German invasion? Cheers James

Hello Brian, Thanks for posting your wonderful Bahawalpur collection. No, I had not even imagined that the Jubilee ribbon was a 'cut and paste' job. I have a lineage of the 1st Bahawalpur Infantry which takes it through to the post amalgamation period in 1956. Shall try to find and post it for you. You may like to consider changing some of your medal designations and dates. Some of the designations, though commonly seen are pure invention plucked out of thin air. The words "Merit Medal" when seen in a catalogue or reference book are usually a sure sign that the medal dealer or writer has no idea what the medal is called. I think it was a sort of 'catch all' when in doubt, invented by some genius at OMSA during the middle of the last century. The "Camel Corps" is again invention, simply because of the relief on the reverse and for no other reason; someone did not know what it was called, saw camels on the back and hey presto invented the term. There is no evidence of use of either name in the Bahawalpur or British-India records of the period. The Bahawalpur forces of all arms relieved British regiments that had been posted to India, taking over their largely garrison durties and border patrol activities and thus freeing them up to be posted overseas during WWI. The medal was awarded to those who performed those duties in several parts of North and Western India and also those who served on the North West Frontier, particularly in the 1919 Afghan War. The Nawab was a Major-General by the end of WWII, promoted Lieutenant-General on his Jubilee in 1949 and full General at his Golden Jubilee in 1955. So it may be a little misleading to show him as an unreconstructed lowly Major all the way through. I think (??) The Royal Ark has the exact dates of his various military appointments unde his biographical entry in the genealogical section. The 1947 Alliance Medal ribbon is the wrong way round. Again, commonly seen the way you have the ribbon in most dealer catalogues. However, the Pakistan colours represented by that half of the ribbon in black with white stripe down the centre should come first, then the Bahawalpur colours which were, in the correct order: red/yellow/black. Earlier, the Bahawalpur colours were red/yellow/green. Hope this helps. With best wishes, James

If it was within Germany in the 1920's it was certainly minus the Kaiser, the Crown Prince and several senior Hohenzollern Princes, since they were persona non gratia at the time. The Kaiser lived in exile in Holland after 1918 and never again set foot in Germany. Cheers, James

Hi Brian, One would have hoped that some of those knowledgeable folk would noticed that two of the medals have ribbons with the Pakistan colours, one of which is entitled the "Pakistan" Allaince Medal and has an engraving of the Pakistan flag. Both are just about the most commonly available medals from any of the princely states. I agree that it would be quite nice to see other collections of these interesting medals since there are so many variations in ribbons and types Cheers, James

Bahawalpur acceeded to Pakistan in 1947 and retained a considerable degree of autonomy until October 1955. Relations with the Pakistan government during that period remained very much the same as with the old British Indian government. So it faired far better than those princely states that joined India, who were recorganised, bundled, chopped up and otherwise emasculated in one guise or another by 1949/1950. The Nawab-Amir was, for example, entitled to continue awarding his decorations to his own state subjects and instituted several medals during that time. The last medal instituted in 1955 for his Golden Jubilee. None of them could be properly described as "indian" anything, so Pakistan seems more appropriate. Quite why people describe it as an Indian Princely State rather than Pakistan, I do not quite know. After all, one would not really describe Sind or Baluchistan as Indian provinces. Cheers, James

Not sure how "cordial" exactly. Kaiser Bill had King Ferdinand I's name erased and expunged from the Hohenzollern family register. James

Chris Buyers has updated his Royal Ark pages on the orders, decorations and medals of the princely state of Bahawalpur. He has been working with the current Nawab and his brother, Prince Fallaeddin Abbasi, and they seem to have ironed out a number of oddities and identifications. Apparently, Tony McClenaghan seems to have either overlooked or disregarded some of the information sent to him by the late Nawab. The late ruler was himself a great medal collector and authority with an unrivalled collection of his own. The result is that several medals and decorations were either incorrectly identified or omitted from 'Indian Princely Medals' back in the 1990s. The links to the relevant pages are as follows: Orders: http://www.royalark....an/bahawal7.htm Decorations: http://www.royalark....an/bahawal8.htm Medals: http://www.royalark....an/bahawal9.htm Cheers James

Not quite out yet. The confederation today has 14 member towns. More information at their website http://www.cinqueports.org/ Cheers James

Emmanuel Apologies for not responding earlier, but I have not been around recently. Thank you for your informative posting. Funny that the Dutch court seems to issue commemoratives for weddings and wedding anniversaries, but not reigning anniversaries. Cheers James

Very true indeed. But a prize for "peace, disarmament and development" named after Indira Gandhi? I wonder what the insignia could be. Brass collar, perhaps? Cheers, James

I wonder how much hotter the potato would be if all three Muslim areas (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Azad Kashmir) were being ruled by India today. I am sure the terrorist problem would be ten times worse and every few years there would be the odd riot and killing spree. As it is there have been a few now and then. Probably what was meant to be happened in 1947. Of course, India had a chance in 1971 to persuade the East Pakistanis to join the greater "secular" state. Obviously, there were no takers. On either side. Cheers James

Hello, Does anyone happen to know if an official medal was ever issued to commemorate Queen Wilhelmina's jubilee in 1938 and if there is an online image or description available somewhere? Cheers James

I have been through the MOD website articles but am still unclear about the eligibility for this new decoration. Are the next of kin of those who served in Commonwealth units in say the MauMau rebellion in Kenya, Malayan Emergency and Konfrontasi eligible. Examples of such units would be the Gurkha Brigade, Rhodesian SAS, Fiji Military Forces, and KAR. Some of these were, of course, were treated as part of the British Army in the Army List while others were strictly colonial forces. Has anyone got a clearer idea about this? Are we going to have a repeat of the recent Gurkha War if Gurkha widows are left out? Cheers James

Hello Hugh, Thanks for thee lovely posts of the various Pakistan orders and decorattions. I have just seen these because I can no longer access this website from my new computer with the new explorer browser, so only get a chance to drop by once in a while. Pakistan did leave the Commonwealth, but not be cause or at the time it became a republic in 1956. It left in 1971 because of the decision of several Commonwealth countries to recognise or support Bangladesh and to admit that country to the Commonwalth. However, Pakistan was allowed to rejoin som years later, was again suspended under ul-Huq and re-admitted at a later stage. Imtiaz=honour or distinction. So I suppose the decoration would translate as the "order of distinction". Most Indian sources are very unfair to Jinnah. Yes he was stubborn, but that was the only "division" this pope had at his disposal. Cheers James

No more, no less than any other country at war. Anyway, I doubt if that was the reason since 1946-1948 was the busiest period for Indian medals and decorations. There were more of them instituted at that time than at any other period in history. A good number of Indian princely states were very busy doing so, several produced at the Indian central government's own mint. Cheers James

Bombay City Police from the same period as my previous post. This one of armed constable. Again, sorry about the scan quality. Cheers James

Bombay City Police from a period just slightly earlier period than the picture posted above. This one of ordinary constable. Sorry about the scan quality. Cheers James

Didn't the raids into Canada continue into the 1870's? Cheers, James

Some interesting awards of the King?s Police Medal after Indian independence in August 1947, as a further contribution towards the "indian debate". Government House, New Delhi. 10th January 1950. The KING has been graciousily pleased, on the advice of His Majesty s Indian Ministers, to award The King's Police and Fire Services Medal, for Gallantry, to the undermentioned:- SHRI TAKHATSING KALYANSING, Unarmed Head Constable (Officiating), Ahmedabad City. JANAB LALKHAN DADUMIA (deceased), Unarmed Head Constable (Officiating), Ahmedabad City. Government House, New Delhi. 22nd November, 1949. The KING has been graciously pleased, on the advice of His Majesty's Indian Ministers, to award The King's Police and Fire Services Medal, for Gallantry, to the undermentioned: ? MEHAR SINGH GREWAL (deceased), Assistant Superintendent of Police, Patiala and East Punjab States Union. GURINDER SINGH DHALIWAL (deceased), Sub-Inspector of Police, Patiala State. SHRI RAM LAL (deceased), Foot Constable No. 243, Jullundur District, East Punjab. Government House, New Delhi. 2nd August, 1949. The KING has been graciously pleased, on the advice of His Majesty's Indian Ministers, to award The King's Police and Fire Services Medal for Gallantry, to the undermentioned:? Shri Srikanta GHOSH, Officiating Superintendent of Police, Sam'balpur, Orissa. Shri Har PARSHAD, Station Officer, Fire Brigade, Rampur State, United Provinces. Thomas ROWLAND, Sergeant Major, Orissa Police, Cuttack, Orissa. Shri Subhakar SUNWAR, Officiating Sergeant, Orissa Police, Cuttack, Orissa. The principal ?collaborationist? Indian ministers responsible for these awards being the Prime Minister and Minister for External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations (Jawaharlal Nehru) who had ultimate responsible for making the recommendations to the King, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) who would have initiated and approved the proposals. The truth of the matter is that Nehru and Patel were perfectly happy to go around investing military personnel returning from the war front with Military Crosses and other decorations from 1946 onwards. Nehru was still negotiating to retain certain British decorations in 1948 and 1949, and went on recommending honours to Indians until India became a republic in 1950. He even wrote to the King recommending Mountbatten for a promotion in the peerage on the day after he completed his term as Governor-General of independent India in May 1948. During the negotiations about the exact new status of India within the Commonwealth, there was even a suggestion that one of the links would be the King acting as a supreme font of honour for all member states, India included. It was the South African National Party government who objected. Cheers James