PRE WW1 BRITISH ARMY 1842 CHINA OPIUM WAR CAMPAIGN MEDAL MADRAS ARTILLERY

Offered is an original 1842 China Campaign medal. 36mm wide circular silver medal with fixed ribbon bar; the face with the young head of Queen Victoria circumscribed ‘VICTORIA REGINA’ (Victoria Queen); the reverse with a trophy of arms around a palm tree, a shield bearing the royal arms in the foreground, circumscribed above ‘ARMIS EXPOSCERE PACEM’ (Latin = they demanded peace by force of arms), inscribed below ‘CHINA’ and dated ‘1842’. Correct impressed named to rim * * WILLIAM SAVAGE, GUNNER, MADRAS ARTILLERY *; edge knock to 3 & 9 O’clock with minor rubbed name portions as photographed; on the correct ribbon. Generally very good condition overall.

The medal was instituted in January 1843 to be awarded to Army and Royal Navy personnel who took part in the First Anglo-Chinese War (often known as the First Opium War) between 1839 and 1842 that forced China to accept free trade, including that in opium, and the cession of Hong Kong.