8 JOMSA Awarded with the Order of British India 1St Class
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on the metal and construction used, prices then began to precedent). A surrounding circlet in red enamel diverge; per-badge costs were estimated: solid gold, Rs. was proposed. 120; hollow gold, Rs. 80; silver-gilt, Rs. 12; silver, Rs. 10. 3. Rai Sahib level: the badge was to be in silver with a ribbon of dark blue with light blue Clearly, either solid or hollow gold badges presented edges (the reverse of the first-level colors). A severe budgetary challenges. Token additional charges surrounding circlet in dark blue enamel was of Rs. 1 to Rs. 4 for cases, Rs. 12 for gold suspension proposed.16 brooches, and Rs. 1 for silver suspension brooches added to the fiscal considerations.9 Preexisting titles awarded As the increasingly frantic production of these badges prior to 1911 would demand 1,180 gold badges and 787 was continuing in the Calcutta mint (which appears to silver badges. In addition, the new titles to be awarded have been swamped by all the additional design and at the Durbar would require 234 gold and 300 silver production work that the new reign demanded) problems badges.10 Assuming solid gold badges were awarded for began to emerge. The red enamel for the second-level the higher classes, the total cost would be in excess of badges would simply not work and fell off the badges. Rs. 2,06,000 (approximately £31,000 in 1911, a great Attempts to substitute white enamel were equally deal of money), while using hollow gold badges would unsatisfactory. The only enamel that would work was only reduce the cost to around Rs. 1,50,000 (£23,000). green, and it was deemed to be both unaesthetic with the Honor might not come so cheap and governments always red ribbon (which in any case had already been ordered count the cost. from China and could not be changed) and perhaps fully culturally appropriate only to the Muslim recipients of the As might be expected, these cost considerations Khan Bahadur badges.17 With some evident frustration, triumphed and the Finance Department urged the it was finally decided to leave the second-class badges substitution of silver-gilt badges for the upper two levels naked of any enamel, as no other solution seemed to be of title badges.11 The substitution of silver-gilt badges possible.18 promised a reduction of the cost of this initial issue of title badges to around Rs. 38,000 (some £5,700, in 1911). It In addition, there were 21 somewhat unofficial Sardar was also in partial response to costs, specifically, the cost Sahib badges awarded to Sikhs from the Punjab.19 These of the suspension brooches, that the wearing of the badge awards were seen as a “special case” and it was intended was altered from the left breast to a suspension from that the title no longer be awarded except in the Punjab, around the neck by a yard and a quarter of ribbon.12 Given where the awards were viewed as a special case.The the costs involved, the question was raised as to whether badges were, in essence, “special-order” items from the the badges should be returnable, for presumed reissue, mint.20 Award of Sardar Sahib to Sikhs residing outside upon the death or promotion of the titleholders.13 In the the Punjab was actively discouraged and they would final analysis it was determined that the attendant costs usually be treated as Hindus.21 of the governmental “overhead” involved in effecting the return of these badges outweighed the costs of making As finally established, the title badges can be summarized: the awards non-returnable.14 This was allowed, and in the minds of some, was required to insure that they were 1. A silver-gilt six-pointed rayed star (the gilt is very worn only by authorized recipients. The naming of the thin and has often disappeared in polishing or badges on the otherwise-blank reverse appears to have not simply evaporated over time) with a crown above been considered (indeed, no prior consideration appears and the image of the king-emperor in the center to have been given to any reverse design for these title (facing to the viewer’s right). The name of the title badges).15 is on a light-blue enameled circlet surrounding Additional design issues needed to be resolved, as it was the king’s image. The ribbon is light blue (Star the intent to enamel the surrounding circle on each badge, of India blue) with narrow dark blue (Order of the area in which the name of the title was to appear (in the Indian Empire blue) edges. The badges were English). As the overall structure clarified, enamel colors worn around the neck from a 45-inch length of began to suggest themselves; the structure, by level, was ribbon, hanging mid-chest. All badges, including established by June 1912 as: the 1911 retrospective awards, were named on the reverse. 1. Dewan Bahadur level: the badge was to be silver gilt, with a ribbon of light blue (Star 1a. Sardar Badadur to Muslims (almost uniquely of India color) with edge stripes of dark blue (Indian Empire color). A surrounding circlet in in Baluchistan and Sind) and to Sikhs (in the light blue enamel was proposed. Punjab only). Many Sardar Bahadur awards 2. Rai Bahadur level: the badge was to be silver were individuals with significant military gilt with a ribbon of red with a dark red border service. Great confusion accompanied the (this ribbon color had no roots in Indian fact that the title Sardar Bahadur was also 8 JOMSA awarded with the Order of British India 1st Class. 1b. Diwan Bahadur to Hindus (in practice, these were mostly in southern and central India) 2. As for the 1st Class, but with the encircling band unenameled. The ribbon is light red with narrow, darker red edges. 2a. Khan Bahadur to Muslims, Parsis, Jews, and Christians (unless they were known to have been converted from Hinduism) 2b. Rai Bahadur to Hindus in “north India” 2c. Rao Bahadur to Hindus in “south India” 3. As for the 1st and 2nd Classes, but all in silver. The encircling band with the name of the title is enameled in dark blue. The ribbon is dark blue (Order of the Indian Empire blue) with narrow Figure 3: A first-type George V Khan Sahib title badge light blue (Order of the Star of India blue) edges. awared to Inayatulla Khan. Indian police to wear the ribbon of the award along with 3a. Khan Sahib to Muslims, Parsis, Jews, and the service ribbons of other awards and medals when in Christians (unless they were known to have khaki service dress.23 This decision, of course, raised been converted from Hinduism) even more directly the place of title badges within the 3b. Sardar Sahib to Sikhs, in Punjab only order of honor as it was reflected in the sequence in which (elsewhere, they were rewarded as Hindus) medals were to be worn. Ultimately, it was placed in the 3c. Rai Sahib to Hindus in “north India” order of wearing immediately after the Kaisar-i-Hind 24 3d. Rao Sahib to Hindus in “south India” Medal. This granted the title badges a comparatively high position in the order of wearing, ahead of all but Buddhists and Jains would be treated as “honorary the most senior gallantry awards. They were, however, Hindus.” never listed in the order of wearing lists published in the London Gazette, as they were awards for Indians only, An example of the first George V title badge (Figure though they were published in the Gazette of India. 3) is a Khan Sahib awarded to Inayatulla Khan, Thana, Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province. While the title was awarded before the badges existed in 1910 this badge was one of the undated retrospective 1911 awards. He was a locally prominent landlord and an influential man, believed to be loyal to British interests. From 1913 the date of the award of the title (usually, but not always, either New Year’s or Birthday Honors) was added to the naming engraved on the reverse. (Those unnamed badges that are sometimes seen on the market are mint or museum “escapees” and of no phaleristic interest.) On March 5, 1923 it was ordered that title badges, instead of being worn around the neck from a length of ribbon that was proving difficult to procure (it came from China and China was then deep in civil war), could be worn on a straight suspension from the left breast. Recipients were to acquire silver brooches from the mint, at their Figure 4: A second-type George V Diwan Bahadur title badge 22 own expense. In 1924 permission was extended to the awarded to Rao Sahib Keshavrao Bapuji Tillou. Vol. 64, No. 5 (September-October 2013) 9 On June 1, 1933, the awareness seems to have dawned that the image of the king-emperor on the title badges was facing in the “wrong” direction, and the king’s image was reversed to face, more properly, to the left. An example of the second George V type (Figure 4) is the Diwan Bahadur awarded to Rao Sahib Keshavrao Bapuji Tillou, Revenue Minister, Indore State, Central India in 1937 as one of the last of the George V badges. (The ribbon, by the way, is not completely correct. As ribbons for the first class badges are so hard to obtain, the ribbon for the British Conspicuous Gallantry Medal [Flying] is often employed now, as it was “back then.”) On January 20, 1936, a shock-wave passed through the empire with the death of King George V, Emperor of India.