Meritorious Service Medal (Honourable East India Company),
issued between 1848 & 1873 Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria
Reverse, the Company arms with standards and lion rampant above,
a banner with the motto "Auspicio regis et senatus Angliae"
below Meritorious Service Medal (East India Co.), 1848-1873 With
the introduction in 1845 of the Meritorious Service Medal for
home troops of the Empire, it was not long before the Honourable
East India Company thought it sensible to issue their own
parallel award, which was therefore instituted in 1848. Although
the East India Company's forces became part of the Royal Army in
1858 with the Company's dissolution, the issue of this
decoration for troops in the theatre was discontinued only in
1873. This medal is unnamed, and its recipient cannot be
determined. Lester Watson acquired it at some point before 1928.