Kiwi Medals

This group epitomises why I collect medals to both my surname and its variants. In the 19th Century, surnames were still quite fluid. With many people still being illiterate in the mid-century (~40% of men), the spelling of the surname often depended on the hearing of the recorder. In this group we have a Crimea Medal with Sebastopol Bar and an Indian Mutiny Meda, the latter impressed to SERGT TIMY BIRCHELL, 82 REGT. On the medal roll for Crimea he is recorded as Birchill. On the Regimental roll for India he is spelled Birchile. Either way, Timothy Birchell, 2232, Sergeant in the 82nd (Prince of Wales Volunteers) Regiment of Foot, served and died at Cawnpore, India on the 16th of December, 1857. The Mutiny medal is typical of many casualty medals, never worn and in almost mint condition.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2018 at 7:50 PM and is filed under 1850-1900 Medals, Family Groups & Singles with tags Crimea, Crimean War, Family Groups and Singles, Indian Mutiny, United Kingdom, Victorian Wars. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.