THE VICTORIA CROSS AND CAMPAIGN MEDALS AWARDED TO SUBEDAR KHUDADAD KHAN, 129TH DUKE OF CONNAUGHT'S OWN BALUCHIS, HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED BY THE LORD ASHCROFT VC COLLECTION.
21 June 2016


( select to enlarge )
Medal entitlement of Subedar Khudadad Khan
129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, Indian Army

  • Victoria Cross
  • 1914 Star + clasp "5th Aug - 22nd Nov 1914"
  • British War Medal ( 1914-19 )
  • Victory Medal ( 1914-20 )
  • India General Service Medal ( 1908-1935 )
    • 1 clasp:
    • "Afghanistan NWF 1919"
  • General Service Medal ( 1918-1962 )
    • 1 clasp:
    • "Iraq"
  • King George V Silver Jubilee Medal ( 1935 )
  • King George VI Coronation Medal ( 1937 )
  • Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal ( 1953 )


The Victoria Cross and accompanying campaign and commemorative medals awarded to Subedar Khudadad Khan, 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, has been acquired by the Michael Ashcroft Trust the holding institution for the Lord Ashcroft Victoria Cross Collection. The Khudadad Khan VC group will go on display in the Imperial War Museum's Lord Ashcroft Gallery.


Following the addition of Appendix XI to the Royal Warrant, dated 21 October 1911, extending the Victoria Cross to Native Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men of the Indian Army, Sepoy Khudadad Khan of the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, was the first Indian soldier, in October 1914, to be awarded Britain's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross.

( A second Victoria Cross was awarded to an Indian soldier the following month to Naik Darwan Sing Negi of the 1st Bn, 39th Garhwal Rifles ). Both Indian soldiers survived the war.


For the award of the Victoria Cross

[ London Gazette, 7 December 1914 ], Hollebeke, Belgium, 31 October 1914, Sepoy Khudadad Khan, 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis, Indian Army.

On 31st October 1914, at Hollebeke, Belgium, the British Officer in charge of the detachment having been wounded, and the other gun put out of action by a shell, Sepoy Khudadad Khan, though himself wounded, remained working his gun until all the other five men of the gun detachment had been killed.

Khudadad Kahn was invested with his Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on the 26th January 1915.


Khudadad Khan died on the 8th March 1971 and was buried in Rukhan Tehsil Village, Pakistan.

Acquisitons

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Iain Stewart, 21 June 2016