A most impressive officer’s group of six commencing with the Egypt Medal for the 1884-5 Nile Expedition, followed by the India General Service Medal with clasps for Burma 1889-1892 and North East Frontier 1891, during which operations he served as Treasure Chest Officer and Signalling Officer, and then over thirty years on from his first campaign, service in France as Draft Conducting Officer withe the 2nd Yorks and Lancs Regiment and the award of a 1914-15 Star trio, awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Nicholas Spencer Lewin, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry later 2nd Battalion, Yorks and Lancs Regiment, sometime 5th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Liverpool Regiment.
Six: Egypt Medal, undated, with 1 clasp: The Nile 1884-85 (LIEUT. R. N. LEWIN 2/ D OF CORN: L.I.); India General Service Medal, 1854, 2 clasps: Burma 1889-92, N. E. Frontier 1891 (Ltt. R. R. S. Lewin, 1st BN. D. Of Corn. L. I.); 1914-15 Star (LT. COL. R. N. S. LEWIN) British War and Victory Medals (LT. COL. R. N. S. LEWIN); Khedive’s Star, 1884-6, mounted as worn
Condition: Light contact wear, ribbons stained and frayed in places, generally Good Very Fine.
Robert Nicholas Spencer Lewin was born in London on 13 Feb 1864 and passed through the Royal Military College in 1884. Commissioned into the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, he served with the 1st Battalion on the 1884-5 Nile Expedition, embarking for the East Indies on 16 June 1886. Lewin transferred to the 2nd Battalion and served as a Staff Officer & Treasure Chest Officer with the Southern Column on the Wuntho Expedition of 1891 and served as Signalling and Treasure Chest Officer of the Manipur Expedition.
The Anglo-Manipur War of 1891 was a short armed conflict between the British colonial forces and the dissenting royal princes of Manipur Kingdom. The conflict began with a palace coup staged by the General (Senapati) of Manipur, ousting its reigning king, and installing a half-brother in his place. The British government took objection to the action and attempted to arrest the general. The effort failed, with the Manipuri forces attacking the British residency and the resident and other British officials being executed. The British launched a punitive expedition that lasted from 31 March to 27 April 1891. The general and other rebels were arrested and convicted. The British annexed Manipur and governed it as a princely state until 1947.
Lewin returned home on 2 June 1893 and sometime later was appointed Adjutant of the 5th Volunteer Battalion, Liverpool Regiment. He volunteered for Regular Army service following the outbreak of the Great War and was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel in the 2nd Battalion, Yorks and Lancs Regiment, and with this regiment served as Draft Conducting Officer in France from December, 1915. He was awarded a Silver War Badge and his medals were sent to his home address at 10 Croft, Tenby, South Wales.
