The unique cavalryman’s Third Burma War storming of the position held by the Yatsauk Sawbwa at Kujyo on 9th February 1887 Distinguished Conduct Medal pair awarded to Lance Sergeant later Squadron Sergeant Major John Langlands, 8th Royal Irish Hussars and attached Upper Burma Field Force Transport Department. Langlands from Dunnichen in Angus, was one of only two of his regiment, and one of only 8 British cavalrymen to serve during the Third Burma War according to the book ‘British Battles and Medals’. Of the six Distinguished Conduct Medal’s award for the 1885-1887 conflict in Burma, his was the last, and the only one to a cavalryman. He won it for his gallantry at the storming of the position held by the Yatsauk Sawbwa at Kujyo on the 9th February 1887. This occurred during the operations in the Shan States. Langlands then had the further distinction of being the only member of his regiment to go on to gain entitlement to the ‘Burma 1887-89’ clasp to the India General Serviced Medal.
Pair: Distinguished Conduct Medal, Victoria bust with the dated edge; (2272. L/SGT. J. LANGLANDS. 8TH HUSRS. 9TH. FEBY. 1887); India General Service Medal 1854-1895, 2 Clasps: Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89, the second clasp threaded on to the ribbon; (**72 CE SERGT. J. LANGLANDS, TRANSPORT DEPT). Mounted swing style as worn on original ribbons, Mounted loose for wear.
Condition: first generally good, the second with contact wear to both the obverse and reverse, and to the rim which partially obscures the naming at 3 and 9 o’clock in the areas of the service number and the last part of the unit, but still mostly discernible if you look closely and to be expected from a proudly worn pair of medals. Overall Very Fine or better,
John Langlands was born circa 1860 in Dunnichen, a small village in Angus, and located between Latham and Forfar in Scotland. Having worked as a gardener, he then attested for service with the British Army at Edinburgh on 6 April 1882, and joining as a Private (No.2272) the 8th Royal Irish Hussars at Canterbury on 11 April 1882.
Langlands was posted out to join his regiment in India from 1 January 1883, where it was then on service and would remain so until October 1889 when mostly employed on garrison duty at Rawalpindi. He was appointed to Lance Corporal on 7 September 1883, promoted to Corporal on 10 December 1885, and appointed to Lance Sergeant on 1 January 1887.
Whilst nearly all of his regiment was employed on the relatively mundane duties that encompassed garrison life, Langlands found himself one of only two members of his regiment to see active service in this period in Burma during the Third Burma War which lasted from 14 November 1885 to 30 April 1887, and he entered this conflict on 18 September 1886 on attached duty with the Transport Department.
Whilst most of the fighting and all the significant actions had occurred by this stage, the operations in Burma were now mostly to do with engaging bandits who were at large in the period of unrest that occurred after the British forced the King of Burma’s surrender, which had led to the British annexation of Burma on 1 January 1886. At this time the country was one of dense jungle, and was therefore unfavourable for military operations, the British knew little of the interior of Upper Burma. As inland operations developed, the lack of mounted troops was badly felt, and several regiments of Indian Army cavalry were brought over from India, while mounted infantry was raised locally. British regiments of cavalry however were not used possibly owing to the climate, with only odd men being supplied on attached duty. As British Battles and Medals confirms, these numbered 8 in all, with one from the 7th Dragoon Guards, two from the 8th Hussars, and five from the 12th Lancers.
As mentioned Langlands was one of only two from the 8th Royal Irish Hussars to see active service in Burma during what remained of the Third Burma War, when a Corporal and then a Lance Sergeant on attached duty with the Transport Department, but of the above mentioned 8 British cavalrymen who saw service, he was the only one to be decorated for gallantry!
At the same time that Langlands had arrived in Burma, General Macpherson had assumed overall command, but when Macoherson died on 20 October 1886, he was succeeded by the famous Victorian solider, General (later Field Marshal) Sir Frederick Roberts V.C., who arrived in Mandalay on 18th November, and then continued the active engagements against the bandits.
It was in the engagement at Kujyo (also spelt Kuggo) on 9 February 1887 that Langlands won his Distinguished Conduct Medal, this being one of only six such awards given for the Third Burma War, with Langlands the last. At Kujyo in Lawksawk in the Shan States on 9 February 1887, the forces of General Robert’s stormed a position held by a Burmese rebel ruler known as a Yataauk Sawbwa. The Yatsauk Sawbwa (or Lawksawk Sawbwa) refers to the hereditary ruler of Lawksawk, who at that time was Sao Weng, a noted ruler in his day. Lawksawk town, the capital, is situated near the Zawgyi River. As a whole the area is mountainous, and there are also teak forests. Sao Weng had been the ruler of Lawksawk at the time of the annexation of Burma by the British, and had refused to submit to them, and instead had fled to Keng Tiring. He was deposed in 1887, dying a few years later, and his position was taken over by another Shan ruling house loyal to the British.
‘In recognition of his gallantry at the storming of the position held by the Yatsauk Sawbwa at Kujyo on the 9th February’ 1887, the Mandalay Herald would confirm that the Major General commanding the Upper Burma Field Force had recommended ‘No 2272 Lance Sergeant John Langlands, 8th Hussars (serving in the Transport Department in Burma)’ for the award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, as confirmed by Horse Guards from a War Office letter on 10 June 1887, as published in General Orders No.113 of 1887. .
Having been one of only two members of his regiment to serve during the Third Burma War, Langlands then had the unique distinction of being the only member of the 8th Hussars to be present during the subsequent clear up operations in Burma which began from 1 May 1887 and lasted until 31 March 1889, resulting in the award of the second clasp to his India General Service Medal, the clasp for ‘Burma 1887-89’.
Langlands, who had been promoted to Sergeant on26 July 1887, was then posted back from operations in Burma to regimental duty in India from 1 April 1888, and was with his regiment when it was ordered home on 20 November 1889. He was promoted to Squadron Sergeant Major on 13 November 1890, and in this rank was transferred to the Army Reserve on 11 November 1893. and was ultimately discharged on 5 April 1894.
Having initially settled in Norwich, Norfolk, he latterly lived in Pakefield near to Lowestoft in Suffolk, where he died, being buried in the churchyard there.
