Afghanistan, 1878-80, 2 clasps, Charasia, Kabul (Jemr. Buldeo Sing 14th B. Lancers), engraved in an unusual contemporary style, dark old tone, suspension claw tightened, a bold very fine Risaldar-Major Buldeo Sing, Sardar Bahadur, O.B.I., joined the Indian Army on 1 December 1870, being promoted to Jemadar with the 14th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jat Lancers) on 1 May 1879, just prior to the Second Aghan War later on that year, as shown in contemporary Indian Army Lists.After an initial skirmish in an enemy village on 30 September 1879, the 14th Bengal Lancers took part in the Battle of Charasia on 6 October 1879, being placed on the right of the main attack, while also continuing to pursue the enemy after the main battle, resulting the capture of 72 enemy guns.Some weeks later on 11 December that year, under the command of Brigadier Massy (four guns F/A, R.H.A, two squadrons 9th Lancers, one squadron 14th Bengal Lancers – four guns and 214 sabres) they took part in the remarkable and gallant charge against a large Afghan force at Killa Kazi, on the Ghuznee Road in the Chardeh Valley. Anticipating a relatively minor action to disperse a body of insurgents, the British column had in fact come face to face with the Mahomed Jan’s entire army (as recorded in ‘The Second Afghan War’ by Hanna), and risked annihilation. Engaging the enemy and aware that their guns could soon be overrun and captured, the order was given to the charge the vast ranks of enemy infantry and flanking cavalry in order to allow time for the recovery of the guns:‘Whether the cavalry understood the urgency of the need which sent them to destruction, or not, they accepted the part assigned them with noble alacrity. Splendidly led by Colonel Cleland, a Squadron of 9th Lancers, supported by the 14th Bengal Lancers, rode straight into the seething, raging sea of armed men, while Gough’s Troop of the former regiment sought to confuse the enemy by a flank attack. Received with a terrific discharge of musketry, clouds of dust and smoke quickly hid the devoted band from the eyes of anxious spectators; then, out of those clouds, horses were seen to come galloping back, some riderless, some with riders swaying in their saddles. Among the wounded were the gallant Cleland, his bridle arm badly sabred, a bullet in his stomach, and young Hearsey, shot through the lungs, who fell to the ground dead, as his horse stopped short.’Despite these actions, the guns were largely spiked and left abandoned in the watercourses nearby, and it was in saving the lives of several cavalrymen trapped in the water-filled ‘nullah’ that Reverend J. W. Adams, Bengal Ecclesiastical Department, won the Victoria Cross.Continuing to serve throughout the remainder of the war, Jemadar Buldeo Sing was later advanced to Ressaidar on 1 May 1885, to Risaldar in March 1890, and then to Risaldar-Major on 1 August 1901. He was appointed to the Order of British India, 1st Class, in January 1903, with the title ‘Sardar Bahadur’, and research suggests that he retired from further service in 1905.Ex D.N.W., 2 April 2003, lot 309

Estimate: GBP 800 - 1000