CORPORAL W. OCKHAM, 21ST LANCERS AND 44TH SIGNALLING COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS SIGNAL SERVICE, ATTACHED 36TH SIGNALLING COMPANY. India General Service Medal 1908, Calcutta Mint issue with double claw suspender, 1 clasp, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 (officially named, impressed in plain block capitals: 3430 CPL. W. OCKHAM. 44 SIG. COY). Naming officially corrected, surname originally impressed as "Hockham", but re-impressed as "Ockham" and in addition unit details after "SIG. COY" erased, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Medal accompanied by copied 1914-19 Medal roll, Medal Index Card and India General Service Medal 1908 medal roll, confirming that 3430 Private William C. Ockham, 21st Lancers and 44th Signalling Company saw service on the North-West Frontier in 1919 attached to the 36th Divisional Signalling Company in Afghanistan, that his I.G.S. was issued by the Government of India, was also entitled to the British War Medal, and transferred to the Class "B" Army Reserve on 2/1/1920 (surname spelt as Hockham on Medal Index Card, 1914-19 Medal roll and IGS Medal 1908 roll, indicating that Ockham's medal was intially incorrectly named to him as "Hockham", hence the need for an official correction).
There is a biographical sketch on Ancestry for a William Charles Ockham (1894-1974), born Wandsworth, London, died New Forest, Hampshire, probably the recipient of this medal.
British Battles and Medals states, incorrectly, that the 21st Lancers were only awarded one IGS Medal 1908 with Afghanistan N.W.S. 1919 clasp. The original roll for this medal and clasp for the 21st Lancers, however, runs to some 12 pages, plus 5 pages of supplementary claims, recording some 93 recipients from the 21st Lancers on the main roll and 5 recipients in the supplementary claims, these 98 recipients all attached to various other units during the Afghanistan N.W.F. campaign of 1919, Hockham being one of a number of men attached to the 36th Signalling Company.
During the 1919 campaign in Afghanistan the principal means of communication was visual signalling, by semaphore, shutter lamps and heliograph. During that campaign, signallers often found themselves in precarious positions. In order to establish signalling positions for visual communication, particularly heliographs, signallers took up positions on high ground, in order to have their signals interrupted by intervening hills (there is a good photograph of just such an exposed position in the National Army Museum collection, titled "Machine Gun Emplacement and Signals at Jatta Post, 1919", a copy of which accompanies this medal. If located properly, with an uninterrupted line of communication, the heliographs of the army signallers were able to communicate messages at distances of up to 50 miles across country, the army's heliographers were also able to communicate with Royal Air Force fighters and bombers.
