Indian Naval Officer - Medal ID please

[James Hoard]

Can someone please be kind enough to identify the medals being worn by this Indian Naval officer from the later 1950's.

Cheers,

James

[Riley1965]

Hello James,

Would you give us a close-up of the medals?

Doc

[Guest Rick Research]

George V 1935 Jubilee and George VI Coronation on the end.

[James Hoard]

Hello James,

Would you give us a close-up of the medals?

Doc

Unfortunately, I have posted the largest that I have.

I can only suggest that if you have a zoom facility on your page settings to try and use that to magnify the picture.

My particular interest was drawn by the second, third and fourth medals. The first appears to be the Indian Independence Medal. The fifth would be the 39/45 star, the next probably Pacific Star, War Medal follwoed by India Service. Then another mystery before the Silver Jubilee and Coron 1937 Medals.

Cheers,

James

[Laurence Strong]

This might help

[Ed_Haynes]

Thanks, Laurence. Quite an interesting group.

[James Hoard]

Thanks a million Lawrence, that is a great help.

I have since learned that this is the last Raja of Jath, Lieutenant-Commander Raja Vijaysinhrao Ramrao Raje Dafle, Raja of Jath. Born 21^st July 1909. 14^th August 1928. Succeeded Died, 12^th July 1998. He was Cmsnd as Hon Sub-Lieut RIN 27/6/1934, prom Hon Lieut 27/6/1937, served in WW2 1940 ? 1944 (no details found), and prom Hon Lieut-Cdr 27/6/1945.

Could the third last medal be a Delhi Durbar silver medal from 1911? He would have been Heir Apparent and aged two years and six months at that time. Did they receive the medal whatever their age, as did later Heirs Apparent the George VI Coronation Medal in 1937. One of the latter recipients was so young he was still unnamed!

Cheers,

James

[Sushil Talwar]

A very interesting group indeed. Which are the the three medals before the Independence Medal? And, why a Pacific Star? Should be a Burma Star.

Cheers

Sushil

[James Hoard]

A very interesting group indeed. Which are the the three medals before the Independence Medal? And, why a Pacific Star? Should be a Burma Star.

Cheers

Sushil

Sushil,

I do not follow what you mean by three medals before the Independence Medal. The Independence Medal seems to be the first in the group. The ones I do not know about are the second, third and fourth (i.e. between the Independence Medal and 39/45 Star).

I said Pacific Star because it was the usual award for the Navy for Service in the Indian Ocean, Pacific or South China Sea. The Burma Star was restricted to operational service in Burma waters and Eastern Bay of Bengal. Though I gather that they were also been awarded for service off the Coasts of Sumatra.

Yours etc

James

[Ed_Haynes]

I had not wanted to get involved here, but:

-- The Indian Independence Medal is his first award.

-- The next three are awards from Indian 'Princely' States. They were worn next in the post-1950 order of wearing.

-- The Pacific Star was an uncommon award to the Indian Navy, but I guess it may have happened. Most Pacific Stars to Indians were for army people who went 'in the bag' in Singapore. Most Indian Navy awards were the Burma Star.

That's enough.

[James Hoard]

I am happy to defer to superior knowledge.

What I did was magnify and brighten the picture but the only conlcusion I could draw was that the ribbon still looked dark, very slightly lighter than the War Medal ribbon. I then looked up the Medal Year Book and the only other possible star seemed to be the Pacific Star, with a largely green centre, which probably would appear lighter than the red of the War Medal in a b/w photo.

What are the three medals and from which princely states?

Cheers,

James

[Sushil Talwar]

Sushil,

I do not follow what you mean by three medals before the Independence Medal. The Independence Medal seems to be the first in the group. The ones I do not know about are the second, third and fourth (i.e. between the Independence Medal and 39/45 Star).

I said Pacific Star because it was the usual award for the Navy for Service in the Indian Ocean, Pacific or South China Sea. The Burma Star was restricted to operational service in Burma waters and Eastern Bay of Bengal. Though I gather that they were also been awarded for service off the Coasts of Sumatra.

Yours etc

James

James,

Exactly what Ed mentions for both the points. The three medals are surely those of some Indian Princely State/s, the question is which one/s?

Rgds

Sushil

[James Hoard]

James,

The three medals are surely those of some Indian Princely State/s, the question is which one/s?

Rgds

Sushil

Indeed that is the interesting question.

But I guess that identifications having surfaced so far, our resident expert may not actually know themselves.

Perhaps these were medals instituted by the Raja of Jath himself. During the brief 'Indian Summer' between Independence on the 15th of August 1947 and actual merging of the states into India or Pakistan between 1940 and 1950, several rulers went to town instituting orders and decorations. May be he was one of them.

An interesting mystery.

Cheers,

James

[Sushil Talwar]

Indeed that is the interesting question.

But I guess that identifications having surfaced so far, our resident expert may not actually know themselves.

Perhaps these were medals instituted by the Raja of Jath himself. During the brief 'Indian Summer' between Independence on the 15th of August 1947 and actual merging of the states into India or Pakistan between 1940 and 1950, several rulers went to town instituting orders and decorations. May be he was one of them.

An interesting mystery.

Cheers,

James

James,

These are not medals of Jath State, which was only 980 sq miles in Kolhapur and Deccan States area and there are no records of any medals being struck by Jath. As far as I can remember (remember) Jath was not a Princely State but a Zamindari where the Zamindar held the title of Raja not to be mistaken for Raja which the British recognised as royalty.

Perhaps Ed can add something here.

Cheers

Sushil

[Ed_Haynes]

No, Sushil, Jath was a State, a non-salute State in relations with Bombay and, later, in that very miscellaneous Deccan States Agency. Only on 23 June 1935 was the title "Raja" recognised by the British.

Under the "rules", Jath should not have had medals. But I suspect they did, though none have been reported. As you know so well, many non-State zamindari landlords concocted medals, so why not Jath.

[Sushil Talwar]

Thank you Ed. I'm overseas and hence without my notes. I do have one medal of the Jath State - it is for some agricultrue exhibition.

Take care

Sushil

[James Hoard]

James,

These are not medals of Jath State, which was only 980 sq miles in Kolhapur and Deccan States area and there are no records of any medals being struck by Jath. As far as I can remember (remember) Jath was not a Princely State but a Zamindari where the Zamindar held the title of Raja not to be mistaken for Raja which the British recognised as royalty.

Cheers

Sushil

Sushil,

Jath was a non salute state. Please see http://www.royalark.net/India2/jath.htm

The rulers were sans title until 1935. They had originally been Desmukhs of Bijapur and made themselves independent when it fell in 1686. The holder, who had been a military Sardar, then joined the Mughals and was made a mansabdar and was recognised as an Imperial vassal. In 1819 the Desmukh was recognised as a British guaranteed jagirdar under the Raja of Satara. They then became direct tributaries in 1839. The title of Raja was conferred as a hereditary distinction, on the gentleman whose picture I posted, in 1935. He only left daughters, so had no immediate successor.

There was a certain Captain Rajindra Sinh Vijay Sinh Dafle, of the 1st Mahratta Light Infantry, who served in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 and was awarded the Vr.C. He may or may not have been Raja' Vijaysinhrao's adopted son.

The Raja merged his state into Bombay in March 1948, so could have instituted his own medals in the period between August 1947 and March 1948. There was nobody to stop him during that time.

Cheers,

James

[Sushil Talwar]

Thanks James. Will have a look at this once I'm back home. Most of these pin-head sized states are more interesting than the BIG ones like Baroda or J&K!

Cheers

Sushil

[James Hoard]

I have done a little more "digging" on this gentleman and it seems that his had "previous form".

Apparently he was pulled up by the British authorities for wearing a crown device on his shoulder, similar to the rank badge of a major (see picture from ca 1938). The online National Archives website has a file labelled "File 26-G(S)/1944 Use by the Raja of Jath of a Crown on his shoulder resembling to Royal Crown of England IOR/R/1/4/182 1944". So, perhaps the 1911 Delhi Durbar medal, third from right in the above picture, was "self assumed" after 1947 when the Brits were safely out of the way!

As regards the unidentified medals/decorations between the India Independence Medal and the 39/45 Star, the device of the third seems to resemble that on the India General Service Medal.

Any comments appreciated

Cheers,

James