Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry

A Great War M.C. group of five awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H. Stedman, Indian Army Reserve of Officers, attached 56th Punjab Rifles and 1/4th Gurkhas, who was wounded in three places whilst leading his men in a frontal attack on a stockade during the Kuki Rising, 1917-1919 Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lt. H. Stedman, I.A.R.O.); British War and Victory Medals (2-Lt. H. Steadman [sic].) BWM partially officially corrected; India General Service 1908-35, 2 clasps, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 1921-24, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Capt. H. Stedman, 1-4 Grks.) traces of lacquer, light contact marks, very fine or better (5) £1,200-£1,600 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2001. M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1917. Howard Stedman was born in March 1887, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers in November 1914. He served during the Great War attached to the 59th Scinde Rifles (Frontier Force) from 11 February 1915, and later with the 56th Punjabis, and was awarded the Military Cross. He was appointed to the Civil Department in April 1917, and was employed by the Military Police in Burma from October 1917. He served in the Chin and Kuki Hills, 1 December 1917 to 15 May 1919, and as Assistant Commandant, Military Police, Chin Hills Battalion, Tiddim from 1918. During the latter period the Kuki Rising took place, and Stedman was to play a prominent role in the suppression of the Kukis. Troops under the overall command of Colonel L. W. Shakespear of the Assam Rifles were engaged, and ‘by the 22nd January, 1918 both Columns were ready, each of 120 rifles and a gun - one under Captain Coote, and Mr Higgins, L.C.S., was to move through the Mombi and Longya area, and with this went the D.I.G., as it was intended to join hands with a Burma Column from Tiddim in the northern Chin Hills under Captain Steadman [sic], with whom further arrangements for co-operation could be personally made. Steadman was to make for and deal with Longya; the junction of both Columns, it was expected, might be about Khailet. The second Column from Imphal under Captain Hebbert, with whom was the Political Agent, was to proceed towards Tammoo, reopen the Burma road, and punish rebel villages in that neighbourhood.’ (History of The Assam Rifles, Colonel L. W. Shakespear, refers) Coote’s column captured Mombi, and ‘the first night at Mombi the camp was fired into but no damage was done, and the next day those left on the hill heard faint sounds of distant firing, but as a high wind was blowing the actual direction of the sound was not easy to locate, but it was thought to be Steadman in action somewhere. A recconnoitring party discovered the new village of Mombi, some 4 miles along the ridge to the east, which was destroyed unopposed, and the camp had a few more shots fired into it at night. On Coote’s return with fresh supplies the Column moved towards Longya, being fired at on two successive days at Letkulon and Khailet, both places being destroyed. At the latter place the first view was obtained across the Manipur river of Longya, which was seen to be in ashes, and the signallers, climbing the hill near by, flashed their helios all round trying every likely hill-top for the Burma Column. After a couple of hours of this a faint answering flicker of a helio was seen far to the south, and a message was received from the Subadar at the Lenakot post (north Chin Hills) from which Coote learnt that Captain Steadman’s Column had got to Longya quicker than expected on the 27th January and burnt it without opposition. He then descended, crossed the Manipur river and climbed to Haika en route to Khailet, where the two Columns were to have met. A very long stockade barred his path, against which Steadman made a frontal attack and failed to take it, losing 11 killed and many wounded. Steadman, the only British officer with them, was badly wounded in three places.’ (Ibid). The British casualties suffered for the duration of the rising, December 1917 - May 1919, amounted to 59 all-ranks killed and 135 wounded. Promoted Captain in August 1919, Stedman was attached 1/4th Gurkha Rifles from November 1918 and served with his new unit in Waziristan, being Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 30 May 1924). He subsequently served as Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General, Southern Command, S. Eastern Circuit, Poona, May 1927 - February 1930; Assistant Judge Advocate General for the same command, February 1930 - May 1937, and Deputy Judge Advocate for the same command, May 1937 - March 1942. He advanced to Major in August 1933, and to Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1937. He retired in March 1942. Sold with copied research.