India General Service Medal (1909)

India General Service Medal
Obverse (top left) and reverse (top right) of the medal. Ribbon: 32mm, green with broad blue central stripe.
Awarded by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Type	Campaign medal
Eligibility	British and Indian forces.
Awarded for	Campaign service.
Campaign	India 1908–35.
Description	Silver or bronze disk, 36mm diameter.
Clasps	North West Frontier 1908 Abor 1911–12 Afghanistan NWF 1919 Mahsud 1919–20 Waziristan 1919–21 Malabar 1921–22 Waziristan 1921–24 Waziristan 1925 North West Frontier 1930–31 Burma 1930–32 Mohmand 1933 North West Frontier 1935
Statistics
Established	1909

The Indian General Service Medal (1909 IGSM) was a campaign medal approved on 1 January 1909,^[1] for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies. In 1925 it was also awarded to officers and men of the Royal Air Force.

The 1909 IGSM was awarded for various minor military campaigns in India, during 1908 to 1935. Each campaign was represented by a clasp on the ribbon; 12 were sanctioned.^[2]

Clasps

• North West Frontier 1908 (Issued in bronze to native bearers)
• Abor 1911–12 (Issued in bronze to native bearers)
• Afghanistan NWF 1919
• Mahsud 1919–20
• Waziristan 1919–21
• Malabar 1921–22
• Waziristan 1921–24
• Waziristan 1925
• North West Frontier 1930–31
• Burma 1930–32
• Mohmand 1933
• North West Frontier 1935

Obverse variations

• 

  King Edward VII (1908-1910)

• 

  King George V KAISAR-I-HIND (1910-1930)

• 

  King George V INDIAE IMP (1930-1935)

Waziristan 1925

The Medal with the Waziristan 1925 bar was awarded to only 46 officers and 214 men of the Royal Air Force who took part in Pink's War. It is by far the rarest bar given with an India General Service Medal and was only awarded after the then Chief of the Air Staff Sir John Salmond succeeded in overturning the War Office decision not to grant a medal for Pink's War.^[3]

See also

• North-West Frontier (military history)

Notes

1. British Battles and Medals, p. 220.
2. Medals Yearbook 2003, p. 160.
3. Laffin, John (1964). Swifter than Eagles. A biography of Marshal of the RAF Sir John Salmond. William Blackwood & Sons Ltd. pp. 207–208.

Bibliography

• Mackay, J and Mussel, J (eds) - Medals Yearbook - 2006, (2005), Token Publishing.
• Joslin, Litherland, and Simpkin (eds), British Battles and Medals, (1988), Spink