Very nice Mike. The rolls are obviously available.
I have 1879 silver medals issued but there must be a wide variation since the rolls may or may not be complete. I counted 46 been sold but that was some time ago.This one was a new one to me. 77 on the roll most with the '02 clasp.
No papers at the PRO I am afraid.
My own example
www.angloboerwar.com/forum/search?query=Bhawal&childforums=1
I can give you this plagiarized from somewhere or another
In August 1914, the Poona Horse was stationed at Secunderabad, as part of the 9th (Secunderabad) Cavalry Brigade. They were brigaded with the 7th Dragoon Guards and the 20th Deccan Horse.[1] The Brigade was dispatched to France and fought on the Western Front their first action being the First Battle of Ypres.
France
On 2 November 1914 the regiment was sent to reinforce the 2nd Gurkhas in the Neuve Chapelle sector on arrival they discovered that the Gurkhas defences had been breached and overrun. The Poona Horse was asked to recapture the position. The Regiment launched a counter attack in daylight and without any artillery support. The Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Swanston who was leading the attack was killed. In France the regiment would be involved in the Battle of Givenchy, Battle of La Basse, Battle of Armentiers, Battle of the Somme-1916, Battle of Flers-Courselette, Battle of Cambrai-1917. In February 1918, the Poona Horse and all the other Indian Cavalry Regiments in France, was deployed to Palestine to join General Allenby’s forces.
Palestine
The Poona Horse arrived in Egypt in April 1918, they now formed the 14th Cavalry Brigade of the 5th Cavalry Division with the Deccan Horse and the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry.
The force also consisted of the 4th Cavalry Division, the Australian Mounted Division and the Anzac Mounted Division.
On 19 September 1918, the allied offensive began. The Infantry broke through the Turkish defences and the Desert Mounted Corps followed up. When they reached the Gates of Damascus, the Poona Horse, along with rest of the 14th Cavalry Brigade, were tasked with patrolling the road from Homs to Damascus Road. When they charged a party of Arabs who ran off leaving a large car behind with a European seated inside the Risaldar Major Hamir Singh, believing him to be a spy, demanded his surrender. The European turned out to be Colonel TE Lawrence. “El Aurens” was not amused.
At 1015hrs on the morning of 1 October 1918, the Regiment entered Damascus and after the rest of the Brigade. The Regiment was ordered to take Rayak and then march onto Aleppo, which they reached on 25 October just prior to the Armistice was signed on 30 October in Mudros Harbour, abroad the battleship HMS Agamemnon.
Mesopotamia
The 33rd Queen Victoria's Own were sent to Mesopotamia as part of the 6th (Poona) Division to counter Turkish advances and to protect the oil fields. They were involved in the Battle of Shaiba and the Battle of Ctesiphon.
Obviously if you find out anything about their time in South Africa. Like you it is pouring at the moment with papers arriving other medals but if I have a chance I will check what other resources I have.
