A Bengali Officer's Delhi Durbar Medal & Great War medal group of 3 to a former Prisoner of War captured by the Ottoman Turkish Army at Kut al Amara, 29 April 1916: Major Satis Bose, Indian Medical Service.

- British War Medal. Silver issue (Major S. Bose.)
- Interallied Victory Medal (Major S. Bose.)
- Delhi Durbar 1911, silver, unnamed as issued

Medals verification: The Great War medals. including entitlement to a 1914-15 Star is confirmed per below following medal roll sources. His name is not included in the Military Allocation of the Delhi Durbar Medal, and we presume was awarded under the Civil Allocation of the Delhi Durbar Medal Roll (which we do not have access to) basis the civil appointment he was holding at the time. The silver medals in the group are equally age toned

- 1914-15 Star: WO 329/2941. The medal roll compiled by the India Office & dated 17 November 1921
- British War Medal. Silver: WO 329/2348. Medal roll compiled by the India Office & dated 10 January 1922
- Interallied Victory Medal: WO 329/2348. The medal roll compiled by the India Office & dated 10 January 1922

Note Major Satis Bose I.M.S., died at, Barrackpore, India, on 5 January 1920 - well before the Great War medal rolls were compiled. The recipients Medal Index Card (held and accessible at The National Archives) shows that the 'Star' was to be issued / sent separately from the medals. Whether Major Bose's, English widow was ever forwarded or received the Star, is unknown. However, extant legal records pertaining to the Major's estate (held and accessible at The British Library) clearly indicate that there was delay and or confusion with regards of where to send / settle Major Bose's estate, basis his widow and young family changing addresses after returning from India to England.

Satis Bose was an Indian of Bengali ethnicity. He was born in India on 11 June 1873 and graduated M.B., C.M., from the University of Edinburgh in 1897. Appointed to the Indian Medical Service as Lieutenant in June 1901, he was raised Major in December 1912 and mobilised in August 1915. Posted to Mesopotamia as Medical Officer to the 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry, he was besieged at Kut and taken prisoner; released from captivity at the cessation of hostilities, Bose later died at Barrackpore on 5 January 1920, at which time he was in command of the Indian Station Hospital

Satis Bose married an English woman, Eva Rhoda Sanders, at, Marylebone, London, sometime during the third quarter of 1909. The couple were subsequently blessed with 2 x children, a daughter Marjorie Eva Bose (1911-1983) and a son Cyril Francis Bose (1914-1982). After the death of Major Bose in 1920, his widowed wife and children relocated to the United Kingdom

Prior to the Great War - and distinct from those holding Honorary Commissions and appointments as Viceroy's Commissioned Officers - the only Indian officers that held commissions in the Indian Army, were those serving as medical officers in the Indian Medical Service

A rare officer's group to an Indian holding the rank of Major

Condition: The silver medals equally toned, the group mostly about EF

Code: 24340