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1895-02 IGS Medal, Punjab Frontier, to Rifle Brigade Tochi Field Force Casualty
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1895-02 IGS Medal, Punjab Frontier, to Rifle Brigade Tochi Field Force Casualty
Price: GB $246.33
Selling medals from my own collection, to fund other medal purchases. Selling here is a Punjab Medal, with the Clasp \"Punjab Frontier 1897-98\", on an original ribbon, correctly named to \"8870 Pte G Francis Rif Bde\" who died, at Datta Khel. on 21 July 1897, during the infamous Tochi Valley expedition.The medal is nicely toned and in very good original condition. This was his only medal entitlement.8870Private George Francis was serving with 3 Rifles during their ill-fated(certainly for 3 Rifles) expedition with the Tochi Field Force. The medal roll confirms his medal andAtand that he died at Datta Khel. The Rifle Brigade Chronicles note that at the time of his death, on 21 July 1897, Private George Francis was the Commanding Officer\'s Batman (CO of 3 RB during Tochi was Lt Col The Honorable M Curzon).

His service papers (electronic copies of which will be provided to the successful buyer) show that heattested on a \'Short Service\', into the Rifle Brigade, at Winchester, on 25March 1887. Born Takely, BishopsStortford in Essex, aged 18 years and seven months. Trade given as Groom. Father given as Samuel Francis.

At his medical, Francis was described as being 5 feet 5 1/4inches. 134lbs in weight and a chestmeasurement of 33inches. Freshcomplexion, blue eyes and brown hair.Wesleyan by religion.

Following training (at home), he served in Egypt from 19October 1887,then South Africa on 2 August 1888 and then finally to India on 21 April 1894(where he served for 8 years and 140 days up to his death in the Tochi Valley).

He was granted 1 GC badge on 3 August 1889 and a further 2GC badges on 23 February 1893. He extended his service (to complete 12 years) on 31 March1894 and died at Datta Khel, in the Tochi Valley, on 21 July 1897,after 10 years and 121 days service.

The Rifle Brigade Chronicle for 1897 describes at Pages123/4 how Private Francis is the first man of the Battalion to die in the Tochi ValleyExpedition (as Batman to the CO), on 21st July 1897 and describes: \"On the21st (July 1897) occurred the first death in the Battalion, during the expedition(Tochi), Private Francis, the Colonel\'s batman, dying that evening ofdysentry. How little did any of us thenanticipate the terrible numbers we were to lose later on in that real Valley ofDeath, the Tochi, which at the date of writing, the 8th December (1897), standat 3 officers, and 98 rank and file.\"

The Private Francis referred to is8870 Pte George Francis as the only other Pte Francis listed on the medal roll for 3Rifles at the time is an \'A. Francis\' (and this Francis does not show in any casualty lists). Also, the dates match his service recordsand the 1897 Chronicle (at Page 229) which list Rifleman Francis G (8870) having diedat Datta Khel on 21st July (1897).

The Tochi Expedition

Following is a brief resume of the fearsome trials andtribulations that George Francis would have been exposed to during his part ofthe Tochi expedition.

Tochi Field Force was formed in June 1897, with aim toexact retribution on the tribes (around the village of Maizar) who (a monthearlier) had ambushed the Political Officer for Tochi, and his armyescort. The Force included 6 Indianbattalions and 2 British battalions (3rd Rifle Brigade and 2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders). The 3rd Rifleswere stationed at Rawalpindi and the assembly point for the force was DattaKhel (some 15 miles to the north east of Maizar). 3 Rifles travelled to Khushulgarh by trainarriving on 30 June and, that same day (evening) they began an 8 day march toBannu (averaged 14 miles per day). Withdaytime temperatures in excess of 100 degrees F, marching was done atnight, when it was a slightly morebearable 98 degrees! Despite manysevere heat cases, there were no fatalities for 3 Rifles (although the Argyll\'s lost 3 men). At Bannu, they rested for 3 days,then marched west, through the Tochi valley, to Miranshah (approx 3,000 feetabove sea level) and then, after a rest, onto Datta Khel where they arrived on18 July. Of the 801 Riflemen who had begun the 170-mile march, only 726completed it, the rest having left at various stages of sickness along theroute.

With all the battalions present at Datta Khel, the TochiField Force was complete and ready for operations (39 days after the Maizarambush).

Sadly, Pte George Francis did notmake it to the 27th of July, when his Battalion marched out to join the1st Brigade in the systematicdestruction of all houses there and around Maizar, as punishment for theambush of 10th. June.

Dysentery and fever were rife and by August/earlySeptember the number of men reporting sick daily was in three figures. and theforce HQ decided that the battalion had to return to India to recover itshealth. It left Bannu on 30th October and there ended the the Rifle Brigade\'sTochi expedition. They had marched through the Derejat and Tochi valley inmidsummer amid duststorms and plagues of flies without ever seeing the enemy,until by the end, \"we had now only a mere handful of sound men with us;the others pale, feeble and worn out, were either hospital patients or too weakto get along without assistance and had to be carried in bullock carts\".Not a single man had been lost in action but over 120 died from Fever andDysentery.

Sources:

Rifle Brigade Chronicle for class=\"MsoNormal\">WO 363 Series, for his Service Papers (Ancestry)

WO 100/89, for India Medal Roll

The London Gazette, 7 September 1897, Issue 26889, Page am also grateful to members of the British Medals Forum, who provided helpful research support.
More medals will be listed over the next few days.I have started the sale low, with , simply to keep selling costs down. Returns accepted only if the medal is found to be other than as described (in which case I would refund your return postage).

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