An interesting Punjab Medal 1848-1849, 2 Clasps: Goojerat, Chilianwala awarded to Private F. Quartermaine, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot and was present during the Second Sikh War in the Punjab during 1848 to 1849, being present at the Battle of Chilianwala on 13th January 1849 when his regiment achieved fame and suffered heavy casualties, and then at the Battle of Goojerat on 21st February 1849. After his discharge he would join the police and on 24th October 1857 the Reading Gazette would note the sentencing of two individuals who had assaulted Quartermaine on the 7th September 1857. Quartermaine died young, aged 31 in Goring-On-Thamas after a short illness.
Punjab Medal 1848-1849, 2 Clasps: Goojerat, Chilianwala; (F. QUARTERMAINE. 24TH FOOT.)
Condition: edge-bruising and contact wear, Very Fine
Frederick Quartermaine saw service as a Private with the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot and was present during the Second Sikh War in the Punjab during 1848 to 1849, being present at the battle of Chilianwala on 13th January 1849, when his regiment achieved fame and suffered heavy casualties, and then at the Battle of Goojerat on 21st February 1849.
At Chilianwala on 13th January 1849, Gough's army was marching towards the reported Sikh position at Rasul, on the left bank of the Jhelum River, about 85 miles north-west of Lahore. At noon, they drove a Sikh outpost out of the village of Chillianwala. At this point, Gough intended to march round to the north of the Sikh position and attack its left flank on the following day, but from the vantage point of a mound near Chillianwala, it was apparent that the Sikhs had advanced from their original positions along ridges close to the Jhelum. Sher Singh's army had originally occupied a position six miles long, too extended for their numbers and vulnerable to a flank attack such as Gough proposed. By advancing, Sher Singh made a British flank march too risky and forced the British to make a frontal attack. It was estimated that Sher Singh's army numbered 23,000, including 5,000 irregular cavalry, with some 60 guns. However after the First-Anglo Sikh War, the Sikh army was reduced to 12,000 infantry and 60 guns in total, so many historians have stated the Sikh army could not have been more than 10,000 on the day.
The Sikh army consisted of three main bodies of troops. On the left under Sher Singh himself were one cavalry regiment, nine infantry battalions, some irregulars and 20 guns, occupying some low hills and ridges. In the centre under Lal Singh were two cavalry regiments, ten infantry battalions and 17 guns, mostly concealed in or behind belts of scrub and jungle. On the right was a brigade which formerly had garrisoned Bannu, consisting of one cavalry regiment, four infantry battalions and eleven guns, anchored on two villages. Other irregulars extended Sher Singh's left flank. Gough intended to delay the attack until the following day, but as his army prepared to pitch camp, hitherto concealed Sikh artillery opened fire from positions much closer than had been anticipated. Gough later wrote that he feared the Sikhs might bombard his encampments overnight, though some of his officers believed he had merely been stung into hasty action. Gough's army was composed of two infantry divisions, each of two brigades, each in turn of one British and two Bengal Native infantry battalions, with a total of 66 guns from the Bengal Artillery and Bengal Horse Artillery. The 3rd Division under Sir Colin Campbell, with two field artillery batteries and three horse artillery troops, was deployed on the left, while the 2nd Division commanded by Major General Sir Walter Gilbert was deployed on the right with a field artillery battery and three horse artillery troops. Gough also had a cavalry division under Major General Joseph Thackwell, but this was split, with one brigade on each flank; Brigadier White's on the left, Brigadier Pope's on the right. Gough deployed two heavy artillery batteries with eight 18-pounder guns and four 8-inch howitzers in the centre. A brigade of Bengal Native troops under Brigadier Penney was in reserve.
Gough ordered the advance to commence at about 3:00 pm. From the outset, the right-hand brigade of Campbell's division, commanded by Brigadier Pennycuick, was in difficulties. Because the jungle made it difficult for Campbell to coordinate his two brigades, he assumed personal command of the left hand brigade under Brigadier Hoggan, while ordering Pennycuick to attack with the bayonet. The British regiment of Pennycuick's brigade was the 24th Foot, which had only recently arrived in India. They advanced very rapidly, but lost cohesion and also lost touch with the rest of the brigade in the thick scrub. Trying to attack Sikh guns head-on, they suffered heavily from grapeshot. When they reached the main Sikh positions, Sikh resistance was desperate and the 24th were driven back. The Queen's colours were lost, although the Sikhs never claimed to have captured them and they were either destroyed or conceivably buried with the officer who had carried them. Pennycuick's brigade eventually became completely disorganised and had to make its way back to the start line in small parties. Pennycuick himself was killed. Campbell's left hand brigade (under Brigadier Hoggan and Campbell himself) had greater success. The 61st Foot captured several guns and even an elephant, and Brigadier White's cavalry followed up with an effective charge. Hoggan's troops eventually met the left-hand brigade of Gilbert's division, commanded by Brigadier Mountain, behind the Sikhs' centre positions.
On Gough's right however, his troops had met with disaster. While Gilbert's two brigades had at first successfully driven the Sikhs before them, capturing or spiking several guns, on their right flank, Brigadier Pope (who was almost an invalid) first ordered an ineffective cavalry charge through thorn scrub which threw his brigade into confusion, and then panicked and ordered a retreat. One of his British cavalry regiments, the 14th Light Dragoons, routed. The Sikhs followed up the fleeing cavalry and captured four guns. They then attacked Gilbert's right-hand infantry brigade, commanded by Brigadier Godby, from the rear, forcing him to withdraw under heavy pressure until Penney's reserve brigade came to his aid. By now, darkness was approaching. The Sikhs had been driven from many of their positions with heavy casualties, but were still fighting strongly. With some of his formations rendered ineffective, or having to fight their way out of encirclement, Gough ordered a withdrawal to the start line. Although his units brought back as many wounded as they could, many of them could not be found in the scrub. Many of the abandoned wounded were killed during the night by roving Sikh irregulars. Gough's retreat also allowed the Sikhs to recapture all but twelve of the guns the British had taken earlier in the day. The final losses to Gough's army were 757 killed, 1,651 wounded and 104 missing for a total of 2,512. A comparatively high proportion of the casualties (almost 1,000) were British rather than Indian. This was mainly a result of the disaster which befell the 24th Foot, which suffered 590 casualties, over 50 percent. Sikh casualties have been estimated at 3,600 dead and wounded. An obelisk later erected at Chillianwalla by the British government preserves the names of those who fell in the battle.
Frederick Quartermaine would go on to serve as a police officer in Oxfordshire, a newspaper report in the Reading Gazette of 24th October 1857 noting:
‘James Neale, 25, turner, and John Irving, 32, sawyer, were sentence to three months hard labour each, for a violent assault on Frederick Quartermaine, in the execution of his duty as police officer, at Stokenchurch on 7th September.’
A later report from Watlington, Oxfordshire covered his death:
On the 22nd inst at Goring after a short illness in the 31st year of his age, Frederick, eldest son of Mr. Stephen Quartermaine of this town.. The deceased had seen much service in India, from his youth, having been present in H.M. 24th Regiment at the following engagements under the command of Lord Gough against the Sikh Army, viz, the battles of Chilianwala, Goojerat, Ramnuggar and for upwards of twelve months previous to his death was a most active and zealous officer in the police force of this county.
