2 clasp 1896 India General Service Medal. Monk. Royal West Surrey Regiment. Horley, Surrey.
£235.00
Availability: 1 in stock
Correctly named in running script 4675 Pte W Monk 1st Bn Ryl W Surr Regt
William was born to Abraham and Eliza in 1871 in Horley, Surrey.
We find the family in 1881 living at 72 Ifield Road, Horley and then in in 1891, William is a lodger at 61 Reigate Road, Horley and working as a groom.
He enlists into the Royal West Surrey Regiment in 1984 and is posted to India in February 1897 until March 1902. Whilst in India, his regiment takes part in the Tirah Expedition.
The 1st battalion was stationed at Malta from 1891, then in India where it was posted at Rawalpindi until late 1902 when it moved to Peshawar near the historic Khyber Pass on the border to Afghanistan.
The Tirah Campaign, often referred to in contemporary British accounts as the Tirah Expedition, was an Indian frontier campaign from September 1897 to April 1898. Tirah is a mountainous tract of country in what was formerly known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Afridi tribe had received a subsidy from the government of British India for the safeguarding of the Khyber Pass for sixteen years; in addition to which the government had maintained for this purpose a local regiment entirely composed of Afridis, who were stationed in the pass. Suddenly, however, the tribesmen rose, captured all the posts in the Khyber held by their own countrymen, and attacked the forts on the Samana Range near the city of Peshawar. The Battle of Saragarhi occurred at this stage. It was estimated that the Afridis and Orakzais could, if united, bring from 40,000 to 50,000 men into the field. The preparations for the expedition occupied some time, and meanwhile British authorities first dealt with the Mohmand rising northwest of the Khyber Pass.
From March 1902 until November 1902, William is posted to South Africa where he earns the Kings South Africa Medal.
We find William in 1911, married to Louisa, living at Ivy Cottage, Glovers Road, Charlwood. He is seen to be working now as a bricklayers labour
The medal has an original silk ribbon.
