The 'Maiwand survivor' Abyssinia and Afghanistan pair awarded to Major-General C. M. Griffit...

The ‘Maiwand survivor’ Abyssinia and Afghanistan pair awarded to Major-General C. M. Griffith, 1st Bombay Grenadiers, who took over command of his Regiment after Colonel Anderson was severely wounded; when the inexperienced Jacob’s Rifles broke and fled, Griffith was ‘Conspicuous in his Efforts to Steady his Men’ and motivate the Bombay Grenadiers to ‘Fight On’, saving his Regiment’s reputation and averting a total disaster; afterwards he reconstituted a fighting unit from the surviving Grenadiers and commanded it during the Defence of Kandahar City and the subsequent victory at the Battle of Kandahar Abyssinia 1867 (Captn. C. M. Griffith. Bombay Staff Corps); Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Kandahar (Lieut. Col. C. M. Griffith. Bo. N.I.) both fitted with contemporary silver riband buckles, nearly extremely fine (2) £4,000-£5,000 --- Charles Matthew Griffith was born at Poona on 19 October 1834, the son of Colonel Julius George Griffith, later General and Colonel Commandant, Bombay Artillery. He was educated at Cheltenham College, nominated as an HEIC Cadet, and passed the Military Committee at East India House on 4 February 1852. After being twice rejected for his weak English and Latin, he was admitted to Addiscombe on 6 August 1852, and commissioned Ensign in the Bombay Infantry on 8 June 1854, at the age of 19. He arrived in Bombay on 23 September 1854 for regimental service with the 1st Bombay Native Infantry (Grenadiers). From June 1859 he was variously employed with the Irregular Cavalry, the Sind Judicial and Police departments, and as Superintendent of Police for the Great Indian Peninsular Railway. The March to Fortress Magdala By 1868, Griffith was a Captain in the Bombay Staff Corps. He was first sent on active service during the Abyssinia Campaign, the most logistically challenging but among the best executed of the British expeditionary wars up to that time. He was given responsibility for organising and commanding ‘A’ Division Highland Transport Train, 1st Brigade of the 1st Division, Abyssinian Field Force. He also commanded the stretcher-bearers who recovered the wounded on 10 and 13 April 1868 from the battlefields of Arogee and Magdala. He was created Brevet Major on 15 August 1868 and was four times Mentioned in Despatches: London Gazette 16 June 1868: ‘The bandsmen and a party of Punjab muleteers were also organised under command of Captain Griffith and furnished with stretchers for the removal of wounded men from the field.’ London Gazette 30 June 1868: ‘Captain Griffith [and other officers] have distinguished themselves by their zeal and activity and deserve special notice.’ London Gazette 10 July 1868: ‘Captain Griffith [and other officers], Land Transport Corps, commanded the first Divisions that were raised, are strongly recommended by the Director of Transport Corps for the extent and value of their assistance.’ London Gazette 7 August 1868: ‘The working of the Train next comes into consideration, which commenced with the arrival of Captain Griffith, with the advance Brigade... The Train was divided into four divisions... and Captain Griffith commenced the formation of “A” Mules... Difficulties and disasters met these officers at every step. Mules landed without equipment in hundreds, and with muleteers of the class already spoken of. At that time these officers having no subordinates had to look to everything themselves... The pleasing task now remains of bringing to the special notice of His Excellency the names of such officers more especially deserving of his kind consideration, and whose efforts came under the personal observation of the Director, who from first to last, never failed... Captain C. M. Griffith, Bombay Staff Corps.’ Griffith was granted furlough to England from 10 October 1868 to 22 November 1870. After marrying and returning to India, he was appointed Brigade Major, Aden in November 1871, promoted Major in June 1874, and Lieutenant-Colonel in July 1877. In August 1879, at the age of 44, he was appointed officiating Second in Command of 1st Bombay Grenadiers, considered to be an elite Indian regiment smartly turned out in a uniform of red jacket, khaki turban and dark blue trousers with white gaiters. Griffith accompanied his regiment to join the South Afghanistan Field Force via the Bolan and Khojak Passes in October 1879, experiencing the hostile, anti-British environment of the Kandahar region for many months. In July 1880 a column built around Brigadier Burrows’s 1st Brigade, which included the Bombay Grenadiers, was sent west to Girishk on the Helmand river. At the disastrous battle of Maiwand on 27 July 1880, Griffith initially commanded the Grenadier’s Right Wing, and then took command of the whole Regiment at around 3pm, after Colonel Anderson was severely wounded and evacuated. Maiwand Two months later, in mid-September 1880, the British, including some officers who had survived the massacre, revisited the battlefield. They found that the European and Indian bodies had been left to disintegrate where they fell, but, learning of the British return, local Afghan villagers had hastily buried them just days before in 40 separate shallow graves at the places where they had died. The battlefield was carefully surveyed and the graves plotted on the battle map, then opened and their contents recorded. The correlation of the battlefield survey with the unsatisfactory and evasive official despatches of the force commanders was so contradictory that each surviving officer was ordered to submit a written report outlining what he had directly witnessed. Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith’s official account is quoted below, slightly abridged, while extracts of accounts given by other officers mentioning Griffith are inserted in italics. ‘On the 26th July 1880, the force under Brigadier-General Burrows [personally brave but indecisive, cautious and totally inexperienced in commanding an all-arms force], which consisted of the following troops [2,600 men], were encamped at Khushk-i-Nakhud, which is on the road from Kandahar to Girishk on the Helmand and distant from the former place about fifty miles: E-B, Royal Horse Artillery [146 men]; Detachment [260 men], 3rd Sind Horse; Detachment [315 men] 3rd Light Cavalry; Detachment [46 men] Bombay Sappers and Miners; 66th Foot [473 men]; 1st Bombay Grenadiers [649 men, the largest infantry unit in the force]; and Jacob's Rifles [624 men]. It was generally believed… that an Afghan force, consisting of about 20,000 men and 36 guns, under Ayub Khan, was not far distant; but such was the enmity against us, that neither the political officers nor our own cavalry patrols were able to obtain reliable information either as to the correct numbers or the exact position of the Afghan force. However, information was received that a few ghazis and some cavalry of Ayub Khan’s advanced guard had occupied the village of Maiwand… and during the night orders were issued for our brigade to march on Maiwand the next morning [27 July] at 6:30 a.m. The position occupied by Ayub Khan’s army at this time was unknown. Owing to the large quantity of ordnance and commissariat stores which had been stowed away within walled enclosures at Khushk-i-Nakhud, and the loading of which took a considerable time, the force did not start punctually, and the sun was well up, and the heat considerable, before we were all off the ground. The force advanced with cavalry and two guns of E-B, Royal Horse Artillery, in advance; the infantry in line of columns at deploying distance; baggage on the right flank; and the whole brought up by a rear-guard of two guns and some cavalry, each regiment of infantry ...