The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals

The outstanding campaign group of five to General Sir Crawford Trotter Chamberlain, G.C.I.E., C.S.I., Commandant of Skinner’s Horse 1849-67, a most distinguished cavalry commander in India

(a) Ghuznee 1839, unnamed as issued

(b) Candahar 1842, unnamed as issued

(c) Punjab 1848-49, 2 clasps, Chilianwala, Goojerat (Lieut. C. T. Chamberlain, 9th Irreg. Cavy.)

(d) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Major C. T. Chamberlain, 1st Irregular Cavy.)

(e) India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, North West Frontier (Majr. C. T. Chamberlain, 1st Bengl. Irr. Cavy.) good very fine
£5000-6000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Crawford Trotter Chamberlain was the third son of Sir Henry Chamberlain, and his second wife Anne Eugenia, née Morgan, and was born in London on 9 May 1821. Having been educated at the Reverend Evan Roswell’s in Brixton, he was nominated for a Cadetship in the Bengal Army by Russell Ellice, Esq., on the recommendation of J. H. Buckle in 1837. He arrived in India aboard the Robarts in the autumn of the following year and was posted to the 28th Native Infantry at Barrackpore. In December 1838, he was transferred as a ‘special case’ to the 16th Native Infantry in which corps his brother, Neville Chamberlain (See Lot 92), was already serving. The transfer was arranged by an old family friend, the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Henry Fane, with whose family Crawford spent his leaves. Sir Henry was keen that Crawford and his elder brother should soon receive their baptism of fire. The 16th Native Infantry was to be included in the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, of Sir Willoughby Cotton’s Bengal Column of the Army of the Indus.

Having been present at the capture of Ghuznee, Chamberlain’s regiment was left to garrison the fortress. He accompanied the 16th to Candahar in August 1841, and in September he was unexpectedly appointed to the temporary command of Shah Soojah’s 5th Janbaz Cavalry, but the following month became Adjutant of Shah Soojah’s 1st Cavalry, commanded by Captain John Christie (Ritchie 1-56), and otherwise known as Christie’s Horse. Following the mutiny of some of the Janbaz Cavalry, Chamberlain was sent off in pursuit, and catching up with them, he charged their ranks. In the ensuing mêlée, he had a close shave when a rebel slashed open the seat of his trousers and took a chunk out of his horse’s back. His brother, Neville, also had a close escape when a Native Officer of his own regiment saved his life by cutting off a rebel’s sword arm who was in the act of cutting him down. Chamberlain was continually engaged in the fierce fighting around Candahar, and in all probability accompanied Christie’s Horse in the march on Cabul, whence the war was terminated and the British withdrew.

In 1843, he was sent to Scinde with two squadrons of Christie’s Horse as an independent command to be known as Chamberlain’s Horse. In 1845, he succumbed to the effects of the climate and was sent on furlough to the Cape, where he married Elizabeth, the daughter of J. de Witt. Returning to India in 1846, he was next appointed second in command of the 9th Irregular Cavalry (Christie’s Horse), into which his own Chamberlain’s Horse was absorbed. During the second Sikh War he was constantly in action. He served at the battle of Chilianwalla on 13 January 1849 and, with his brother Neville, managed to find his way to the front in spite of the fact their brigade had been left to guard the baggage. On 30 January, after heavy rain which prevented Sir Hugh Gough from following up the enemy, he was engaged in a particularly spectacular cavalry skirmish, in which his patrol killed sixteen of the enemy, though he himself was wounded. Gough was sufficiently impressed by the results of this encounter to make him the subject of a special despatch:

‘Lieutenant Chamberlain slew two of the enemy with his own hand, receiving a slight wound himself, and his energy and gallantry were, as usual, most conspicuous, and merit the best commendation of his Excellency. Lieutenant Chamberlain speaks in high terms of the conduct of the party he commanded on this occasion, and especially of the gallantry evinced by Ally Buksh, sowar of the first troop; and the Commander-in-Chief is persuaded that other parties sent on the important duty of protecting the carriage cattle of the army, will emulate the activity, conduct, and courage which has now so deservedly elicited his Lordship’s applause.’

At the Battle of Goojerat, three weeks later, Chamberlain, not yet recovered, had to be lifted into his saddle ‘where he remained throughout the day’. After the battle his Brigadier, Sir John Hearsey (Ritchie 2-12), commented in his despatch: ‘Lieutenant Crawford Chamberlain, second in command 9th Irregular Horse, although still suffering from his wound, was present with the regiment the whole day, thus showing his usual energy.’ For his services in the Punjab campaign, Chamberlain was promoted Captain in his regiment and Brevet Major. He was also rewarded with the command of the 1st Irregular Horse which, as Skinner’s Horse, had already made its mark on the military history of India. Raised by Captain James Skinner in 1803, from men enlisted in the service of Scindia’s French General, Perron, they had come over to the British after Lord Lake’s victory at Delhi. In 1854, Chamberlain led a squadron of the regiment in the expedition under Colonel Sydney Cotton (Ritchie 2-41) against the villages of Dabb, Sadin and Shah Mansur Khel.

The strong patriarchal influence, based on mutual confidence, that Chamberlain exercised over Skinner’s manifested itself in the earliest days of the Great Sepoy Revolt of 1857, when in the midst of mutiny, suspected and overt, his men volunteered to shoot condemned rebels at Jullundur in early June. Their loyalty was all the more remarkable because the regiment had always recruited near Delhi, and its men were counted as Hindustani by the Punjabis. They were Hindustani Muslims, Rajputs, Jats, and Ranghars (Muslims claiming Rajput origin), and were in fact of the same caste as the men of the 3rd Bengal Cavalry with whom the Mutiny erupted at Meerut.

The first signs of a crisis in the Punjab, found Chamberlain at the strategically important post of Mooltan, where apart from his own regiment, there were two regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, the 62nd and 69th, a battery of native horse gunners, and no European troops except fifty artillerymen. The station commander, an officer of thirty-four years service, was quite unequal to the situation, and was content to let Chamberlain take the initiative and assume virtual command. Chamberlain’s first act was to call a meeting at his house of the Native officers from his own regiment, the infantry and artillery. Forced to place his absolute confidence in these men, he suggested that a written bond should be given by each of them guaranteeing the state of fidelity of their men. Whereupon the Native officers rose en masse and placing their signet rings on the table, said as one, “Kábul sir-o-chasm” (Agreed on our lives).

The artillery Subadar declared that his men had no scruples and would fire in which ever direction they were required. The infantry Native Officers admitted they had no influence over their men and could give no guarantee. Thus, Chamberlain ascertained that the cavalry were loyal, the artillery doubtful and the infantry on the brink of open revolt. Over the course of the next few nights, Sepoy agitators, disguised beyond recognition, attempted to spread sedition amongst the ranks of Skinner’s. The regiment’s Woordie-Major (Native Adjutant) reported the mutinous conduct to Chamberlain and begged him to come and hide in his house so that he might hear for himself the Sepoys’ open proposals of mutiny, massacre and rebellion; and also the promise made to the Woordie-Major that should the rebels be successful, they would place him on the gaddi (throne) of Mooltan.

Also at this anxious juncture, Ressaidar Shaidad Khan, a Ranghar, came to Chamberlain, demanding to know if there was any truth in the rumour that he did not have as much confidence in the Ranghars as others of Skinner’s. Chamberlain asked him to sit down and called the regimental banker to bring a valuable jewelled sword which he had left in his charge for safe keeping. It had belonged to one of the Amirs of Scinde and, as everyone in the regiment knew, its value to Chamberlain was very great because it had been honourably taken in battle and presented to him by his friend Fitzgerald of the Scinde Horse. When the sword arrived, Chamberlain handed it to Shaidad Khan, and said “Give me this back, when this war is over.” The Ressaidar’s eyes filled with tears; ‘he touched Chamberlain’s knees, and swore that death alone would sever the bond of fidelity of which the sword was the token.’

Shortly after this interview, Skinner’s uncovered and frustrated a plot hatched by the Sepoys of the 62nd and 69th N.I. to murder Chamberlain and his family. It was therefore apparent that the only course left open to Chamberlain was to disarm the two Native Infantry regiments, which Sir John Lawrence had been urging for some days. On 9 June, Lawrence despatched the 2nd Punjab Infantry from Dera Ghazi Khan, and on the same day the 1st Punjab Cavalry who had marched without waiting for official sanction, arrived at Mooltan. That evening the British officers of the several regiments were called to a meeting in the Deputy Commissioner’s house and informed by Chamberlain that he intended to disarm the 62nd and 69th N.I. next morning. At 4:00 am, the Horse Artillery troop and the Native Infantry were ordered to fall in as for an ordinary parade. When they had gone about a quarter of a mile, a detachment of the Punjab troops moved quietly between them and their lines cutting them off from their spare ammunition. At the same time the European artillerymen took their places with the guns of the Horse Artillery troop. Close to the guns stood a carefully selected party of Sikhs from the 1st Punjab Cavalry, under Lieutenant John Watson, who had been briefed to cut down the gunners if they refused to assist the Europeans work the guns.

Chamberlain rode up to the Native Infantry and, having explained the reason for them being disarmed, gave the order “Pile arms!” A Sepoy of the 62nd shouted out “Don’t give up your arms; fight for them!” Lieutenant Thomas, the Adjutant of the regiment, identifying the offender, strode up to him and instantly seized him by the throat and threw him to the ground. The order was repeated and this time the Sepoys complied, before being marched back to their lines, while the Punjabi’s and Skinner’s oversaw the removal of their muskets. Having successfully executed this dangerous commission, Sir John Lawrence wrote to Chamberlain: ‘I have to thank you very heartily for the admirable manner in which you disarmed the 62nd N.I.; it was, I assure you, most delightful news hearing that it had been done. It was a most ticklish thing, considering that it had to be done entirely by native troops. I shall not fail to bring it to the special notice of Government. It would have proved a great calamity had our communications with Bombay been intercepted. I beg you will thank yours and the 2nd Punjab corps for their conduct.’ Chamberlain’s name was duly brought to the notice of the Government in the Punjab Mutiny Report, which stated ‘Too much credit cannot well be given to Major Chamberlain for his coolness, resolution, and good management on the trying occasion ... As the result of failure would have been calamitous, so the result of success was more favourable. Indeed the disarming at Mooltan was a turning-point in the Punjab crisis, second only in importance to the disarming at Lahore and Peshawur.’ But as Field Marshal Lord Roberts afterwards commented, when, ‘Considering the honours which were bestowed on others’ Crawford Chamberlain ‘was very insufficiently rewarded for this timely act of heroism.’

In September, Chamberlain had a close call when his regiment was attacked at Cheechawtnee by an overwhelming force of rebels and mutineers, compelling him to withdraw his men inside a caravanserai, where they were surrounded for three days. Although sick, Chamberlain succeeded in maintaining the defence until relieved. For his services in the Mutiny he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, which was undoubtedly poor recompense. His personal influence, however, on ‘The Canaries’, as Skinner’s Horse was nicknamed, ensured that they remained loyal throughout the rebellion and consequently, on the reorganization of the Army of India, became the 1st Regiment of Bengal Cavalry, and was permitted to retain the added distinction of wearing the bright yellow uniform adopted by Skinner’s original troopers.

Chamberlain was promoted Colonel in April 1862, and in 1864 was appointed honorary A.D.C. to the Governor-General. Two years later he was made a C.S.I., and was included in the first list of twelve officers for a good service pension. That same year he was transferred to the command of the two silladar regiments of the Central India Horse suppressing dacoity on the Grand Trunk Road. The next year he acted in command of the Gwalior district with the rank of Brigadier-General. In 1869, he officiated as Political Agent for Gwalior and received the thanks of the Government for his services; and in the winter of that year represented British interests at the court of Scindia, and among the other duties that befell him at this time was the official presentation of the new Brigadier commanding the district, Luther Vaughan (Ritchie 2-86), to His Highness. Like Vaughan, Chamberlain suffered under the readjustments to the upper echelon of the Indian Army List and while promoted Major-General, spent the next five years on the unemployed list, serving on various inquiries and commissions, until being given command of the Oudh Division. He relinquished that post in 1879, having become Lieutenant-General in October 1877. Advanced to General in January 1880, he returned to England for the first time in forty-three years, and was retired from the active list in 1884. A widower of two years duration, he married, at the age of seventy-five, Augusta Margaret, the daughter of Major-General John Christie, who had raised the regiment of Horse bearing his name referred to earlier. Finally, on the occasion Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, in 1897, Chamberlain was given a long over-due knighthood, being created a Knight Grand Cross of the Indian Empire. General Sir Crawford Chamberlain, ‘who retained his splendid physique’ till near the end, died at his residence Lordswood, Southampton, on 13 December 1902, and was buried near his brother, Sir Neville, at Rownhams.

Refs: Hodson Index (NAM); Dictionary of National Biography; IOL L/MIL/10/31 & 58; Forty-One Years in India (Roberts); The Gemini Generals (Wilkinson); My Service in the Indian Army and After (Vaughan).