Sutlej Medal 1846 - 80th Regiment of Foot

Two clasps (FEROZESHUHUR). (SOBRAON). Impressed “EDWIN PURDY 80th REGT”.


After returning to Sydney in 1844 guarding convicts , the regiment sailed for India. Part of the regiment again suffered shipwreck when the sailing ship Briton ran aground on the Andaman Islands in November 1844.The regiment arrived in India just as the conflict in the Punjab later known as the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out. They fought at the Battles of Mudki and Ferozeshah in December 1845 and the Battle of Sobraon in February 1846. Ferozeshah became celebrated as a regimental anniversary on 21 December thereafter, and is still marked by the successor 3rd Battalion Mercian Regiment.

Stationed in Lahore from 1846 until 1852, in that year it fought in the Second Anglo-Burmese War which saw the East India company annex the province of Pegu. Returning to India in 1853, the 80th sailed back to the United Kingdom in the following year, where they were brought up to full strength by recruiting parties. In 1856 they moved to the Cape Colony. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 broke out in May and the 80th arrived in Calcutta in February 1858. Broken into small parties, some mounted on camels, they took part in the Central India Campaign. Although the war ended in June 1858 the 80th Foot remained for nearly nine years, arriving back in England in 1867.

Code: 1866