Presentation of Indian Medals

In accordance with orders received from the Horse Guards, the non-commissioned officers and men of the 4th and other companies of the Royal Engineers who served during the recent campaign in India were decorated with the Indian medal at a full parade of the officers and men of the Royal and Indian Engineers, on the 9th instant, at Brompton Barracks, Chatham. The whole of the officers and men having been formed into the three sides of a square, the non-commissioned officers and men selected for decoration, upwards of 90 in number, were called to the front and presented to Colonel Harness, C.B., by Lieutenant-Colonel Collinson. The men belong chiefly to the 4th Company, the other companies of Royal Engineers which served in India during the mutiny having since proceeded to China, the Mauritius, and other parts of the world. Prior to the distribution of the honours, Colonel Harness delivered a spirited address to the assembled officers and men, in which he expressed the great pleasure he experienced in being selected to distribute the medals to the Royal Engineers, an honour which seldom devolved upon a commanding officer of the Royal Engineers, in consequence of the companies forming that corps being generally scattered throughout all parts of the world. The pleasure he experienced on this occasion was considerably enhanced by the fact that he had served with most of the non-commissioned officers and men who were now before him to receive the medals. From what he knew of the Royal Engineers he felt quite sure that, it ever they were again called to confront an enemy, they would acquit themselves in their usual gallant manner, although he hoped that the next enemy they encountered would prove more honourable than those they last met in India. Colonel Harness then distributed the medals to the recipients, most of whom were already decorated with the Kaffir, Baltic, and Crimean medals, and one (Sergeant Lendrim) with the Victoria Cross and three other medals.