Army of India Medal, with bar for Maheidpoor, awarded to Lt. J.
Lyon, 1851 Obverse, a bust of Queen Victoria Reverse, Victory
seated facing left before a palm and war spoils, holding a
laurel branch and wreath Army of India Medal, 1851 (Third Anglo-
Maratha War) The numerous campaigns of the forces of the British
East India Company were not officially recognised with a medal
until 1851, in the same move as that which created the Military
and Naval General Service Medals for service in the contemporary
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The resulting Army of
India medal covered battles from 1799 to 1826, so many of those
involved were no longer living. Queen Victoria, by whose order
the medal was issued and whose bust it therefore carried, was
likewise not on the throne for the actions for which it was
awarded. The Maratha Empire, a Hindu confederacy which began in
1674, had in 1796 fallen into the hands of the Peshwa ruler Baji
Rao II. Repeated rebellions against his authority led him to
seek help from