I have not found a January link to this subject, yet, but the card was from the first version of this set ever to have been issued, in India, and that was in January 1915.
Here we have Havildar Ganga Singh, who, it tells us on his card, was "One of the first of the overseas troops to be awarded the coveted V.C.". Research into that proves that though the award was introduced on 29 January 1856, by Queen Victoria, in order to honour acts of bravery during the Crimean War, it was not issued to colonial troops until 1867, when a petition was made for Major Charles Heaphy, a New Zealander, regarding an event in 1864 in which he rescued British soldiers under fire, and almost lost his own life in the process. In actual fact he probably only got the award because he was operating under British command and rescuing British troops. After that several such acts of bravery by colonials were either ignored, or rewarded in another way, however, in 1881. a South African Surgeon called John McCrea was nominated for the award over an event during the Basuto Gun War, which saw him attending to the wounded at great risk to his own person. After consideration Queen Victoria agreed to change the rules so that any military operation, whether it involved British forces or not, would be eligible to be considered for the Victoria Cross after acts of valour.
As for Indian troops, it was deemed that they ought to receive the Indian Order of Merit instead. There was a bit of an anomaly here though, for men employed by the East India Company were ineligible for this and often got nothing. With that in mind, in 1857, after the indian Mutiny, it had been decided that they, and they alone, were to be considered for the Victoria Cross. And that was extended to all Indian troops in 1911.
However the first two Indian men to receive the Victoria Cross were Darwan Singh Negi (of “B” Company,1/39th Garhwal Punjab, for clearing the enemy out of British trenches under fire, though injured in the head and arms) and Khudadad Khan (of the 129th Duke of Connaught’s own Baluchis, for manning his machine gun for almost an entire day, preventing the enemy over-running the position). Their medals were decreed, and awarded ,in December 1914.
The story of our man, Havildar Ganga Singh, must start with the fact that Havildar was a military title, not part of his name, in the Indian Army it is the equivalent to the British rank of Sergeant. He was serving in France, with 57th Wilde`s Rifles, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, and he, plus fifteen other Sikh soldiers, were charged with guarding a trench during an enemy attack. This led to hand to hand combat, almost certainly the worst thing to do. Ganga Singh must have been in front of the force, as he personally killed five German soldiers with his bayonet, and then, when that broke, killed another ten with a sword. After that he was shot in the leg, the chest, the hands and the head, and left for dead, along with fifteen of his fellows and sixty Germans.
The fact that he was actually still alive was only discovered when the trench was recaptured by the British forces.
After that, we do not know what happened, but it seems that he died in 1919, perhaps even of wounds. And he is the only Indian soldier in this set of twenty-five cards, which seems rather strange for a set sent out to India for issue; even stranger when you learn that during that conflict eleven Indian soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross. And from 1857 until 1947 there were a hundred and fifty three Victoria Crosses awarded to soldiers and civilians of Indian descent.
This set first appears in our "Cartophilic Reference Book - No.14 :The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I and II (revised) and Part III", which was published in 1949. There it is described as part of a group, namely :
- 109. 25. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES. Size 64 x 37 m/m. Fronts lithographed in colour; backs with descriptive text.
AUSTRALIAN ISSUES ;-
A. Red backs, with "Havelock" advertisement
B. Red-brown backs, with "Wills Specialities" advertisement
"SCISSORS" ISSUE :-
C. Red backs, with upright "Scissors" packet
Varieties - Card No.21 is found (a) with front, "Captain", back "Major" Reynolds (b) front and back "Major" Reynolds.
GENERAL OVERSEAS ISSUE :-
D. Blue backs, anonymous.
This is updated in our "Cartophilic Reference Book - No.16 : The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I, II, and III (revised) and Part IV", which was published in 1950. That entry does not affect our version, for it reads : "109. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES. - see page 119. The anonymous series under "D" was issued in Canada - see page 41, item C.67, of Mr. Burdick`s American Catalogue"
We also know that the Australian versions were both issued in March 1915, two months after our Indian one. And that all three were printed in England and shipped abroad for issue, which is how we know the month.
The above description is very much altered in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, and not just because the Australian and anonymous versions have been excised, the former moved to the Australian section of the Wills listing, and the latter to the back of the book. Even the text of our version, listed amongst the other Indian `Scissors` issues, is truncated, to just :
- VICTORIA CROSS HEROES. Sm. 63 x 36. Nd. (25) See W/109.C ... W62-372
And this text is identical in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, save a new card code, of W675-521