Volunteer Long Service Medal (India and Colonies). Victorian issue (Quartermaster Serjeant J. Patterson N.W. Ry: Voltr Rifles)

The naming in engraved script fills the entire rim of the medal, and is a master-class example of an engraver's skill in craftsmanship

Medal Verification: The award was published in the Gazette of India issue 544 of 189, and was one of only an estimated 79 x VLSM's awarded to the regiment while styled as the North Western Railway Volunteer Rifles between 1897-1901 (inc)

John Patterson, son of James Patterson, was a native of May Bank, Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland, where he was born in 1851. By the time of the 1871 National Census for Scotland, John was residing at, 181, Hospital Street, Govan, Hutchesontown, Lanarkshire, Scotland, where he was one of two 'lodgers' living with the Hastie family, whose 'Head of House' was George Hastie, an Assistant English Teacher, At the time of the 1871 Census John was described as employed as an 'Engine Fitter at Works'. By 1885, John was living and working in British India, where he was living at Rawalpindi, Punjab (now located in Pakistan), where he was then employed as a 'Locomotive Fitter' On, 22 February 1885, John, described as a Batchelor and son of James Patterson, married Eliza Robinson, described as a widow who was then residing at Lahore, Punjab.The Patterson's has relocated to Scotland by 1904. John's wife Eliza, described as Mrs. John Patterson of Maybank, Abernethy, died at, 26 High Street, Newburgh, Fife, Scotland, on, 24 June 1904 (a death notice was posted in the local Fife newspaper the 'Citizen' issue of, 2 July 1904). Two years later, another, confusingly ten death notice, in respect of Eliza was published in the Lahore based, 'The Civil and Military Gazette' issue of, 29 June 1906, presumably by Eliza's son, John Ernest Mountford Robinson, who lived in India, had initiated the notice as part of a legal claim he posted in the same year. This latter notice refers to Eliza's ancestral family residence at Rohri, as well as showing that she was the wife of "John Patterson, retired Loco. Foreman. N-W. Ry., of May Bank, Abernethy, Scotland.'. John Patterson is recorded to have died at, Eshiels Hope, Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland on, 3 October 1908, the death notice published in the 'Citizen' issue of, 10 October 1908, which states he was "son of the late James Patterson of, Maybank, Abernethy late North Western Railway, India."

Scottish 'Last Will and Testament' legal records for John Patterson, describe him as "sometime Principal Locomotive Engineer, North-Western Railway Company, Baluchistan". The value of his estate was considerable for the time, showing an estate value of GBP 3,813 & 15 Shillings.

North Western Railway: The North-Western State Railway (NWR) was formed in January 1886 from the merger of the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway, the Indus Valley State Railway, the Punjab Northern State Railway, the eastern section of the Sind-Sagar Railway and the southern section of the Sind-Pishin State Railway Later renamed the North Western Railway, by 1905 it was the longest railway in British India, that was under one administration and was the strategic railway of the North-West Frontier, province. In 1947, one part became the nucleus of Pakistan's railways, with 4976 of the old system's 6861 miles lying within the new state; the part lying in India was reorganised and renamed as Eastern Punjab Railway

A fine example of an Indian issue Victorian Volunteer's Medal to a Scottish 'Railway Man'

Condition: GVF

Code: 24225