Volunteer Long Service Medal (India and Colonies). Victorian issue (Sergt. T.A. Kingsley Madras Vol. Gds.)

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 to Sergeant Thomas Arthur Kingsley of the Madras Volunteer Guards was published in the Gazette of India issue 569 of 1897, and was one of only an estimated 65 x VLSM's (Victorian issue) awarded to the regiment in the period 1897-1901 (inc)

Thomas Arthur Kingsley son of William Thomas Kingsley (an Apothecary / Sub Assistant Surgeon, Madras Presidency Army 1804-1862) was born circa 1846. He is recorded as employed as a 'Clerk', 27 years of age, and resident of 'New Town', Madras, India, when he married Elizabeth Charlotte Trotter described as 19 years of age, and daughter of Charles Solomon Trotter, at St. Mary's Church, Fort St. George, Madras, British India, on 1 September 1873. The couple were subsequently blessed with seven children, comprising one son and six daughters, who were born variously in British India 1874-93

The Madras Volunteer Guards were the senior-most infantry regiment of the Indian volunteer movement, and have their origins dating back to the year 1857 - the year of the Indian Mutiny - when the Madras Volunteer Guards were raised as a precautionary measure. With the creation of the Indian Defence Force in April 1917, the unit was restyled '1st Madras Guards'. On the subsequent creation of the Auxiliary Force India in 1920, the unit was re-styled 'The Madras Guards'

Condition: About EF

Code: 25177