Punjab Campaign Medal

Punjab Medal with the bars 'GOOJERAT' and 'CHILIANWALA'. The recipient's name and regiment have been erased from the edge. Obverse: The diademed head of Queen Victoria and the legend 'VICTORIA REGINA'. Reverse: Major-General Sir Walter Gilbert, on horseback receiving the surrender of the Sikhs. In the background is a file of British troops with colours flying and a hill with a large palm tree. Around the top circumference is the inscription 'TO THE ARMY OF THE PUNJAB' and in the exergue is the date 'MDCCCXLIX'. The medal is fitted with an ornamental scroll swivel suspender. A piece of 32 mm dark blue ribbon with a yellow stripe near each edge is attached to the suspender.

A General Order dated the 2nd April 1849 granted the award of this medal to members of the British forces employed in the Punjab camapaign between 7 September 1848 and 14 March 1849, known also as the Second Sikh War. The Battle of Chilianwala took place on 13 January 1849 and the Battle of Goojerat on 21 February 1849. The campaign resulted in the annexation of Punjab by the British. This medal is part of a collection assembled by the late Hon. Sir Thomas Hughes, Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales and presented to the Memorial in memory of his son, Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, Australian Army Medical Corps, who died of wounds in France on 11 December 1916, and of his grandson, Flying Officer Peter Roger Forrest Hughes, 12 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, who was killed on active service while flying in the Northern Territory on 3 October 1942.