*Meeanee, 1843, with original steel clip and straight bar suspension (Major H. C. Teasdale 25th N.I.), officially engraved in upright capitals, dark old tone, about extremely fine. Major Henry Crawshay Teasdale (1801-1843) was born on 31 October 1801 at Chancery Lane, London, the son of Richard Teasdale, a solicitor residing at the Merchant Tailors Hall, and his wife Mary (née Burrows). Having passed out from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst he was nominated as a Cadet with the Bombay Establishment H.E.I.C. in 1815 at the recommendation of the Right Honourable John Atkins, Lord Mayor of London. Apparently an able linguist with a knowledge of Hindustani, his papers report that he was initially Officiating Interpreter with the 1st/5th Bombay Native Infantry, receiving first commission as Ensign on 23 March 1819, and rising soon after to Lieutenant in the 25th N.I on the 24th of March 1819. He was promoted to Captain on 25th May 1829, and to Major on 1 May 1842, and served as commanding officer 25th Bombay Native Infantry at the Battle of Meeanee on 17 February 1843. He was killed in action leading from the front – the only officer of this battalion to be killed in action: “It is not to be supposed that so hard-fought an engagement could be sustained without considerable loss on both sides. That of the British force is two hundred and fifty-six men killed and wounded. The enemy is generally supposed to have lost five thousand; Major Teasdale, while animating his sepoys, dashed on horseback over the bank amidst the enemy, and was instantly shot and sabred – dying like a glorious soldier!” Following the death of his first wife, he had married Princess Budhson (or Bakshan) (1803-1831), daughter of the Raja Shahu II Bhonsle (1763-1808), Emperor of the Maratha Empire, with whom he had a daughter, Ellen Teasdale, in 1824, and a son, Henry Jackson Teasdale, in 1830. Offered with copied service papers, and some other printed research.
Estimate: £1200-£1500