THE INDIA GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL 1854-1895 AWARDED TO THE AMERICAN BORN LIEUTENANT (LATER COLONEL) BRYCE STEWART, D.S.O., 2ND BATTALION ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS (LATE THE EDINBURGH OR QUEEN'S REGIMENT OF LIGHT INFANTRY), WHO ALSO SAW SERVICE IN THE BOER WAR (AWARDED D.S.O., MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES AND ALSO AWARDED QSA WITH 3 CLASPS AND KSA WITH 2 CLASPS, WHO SAW ALMOST 30 YEARS SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL MUNSTER FUSILIERS AND COMMANDED THE 2ND BATTALION 1905-1909. India General Service Medal 1854, 2 clasps, Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89 (officially named, engraved in running script: Lieut. B. Stewart, 2nd. Bn. R. Muns Fus.). Repair to lugs on Burma 1885-7 clasp, otherwise Good Very Fine.
Medal accompanied by biographical details, copied extract "Who Was Who" and copied medal roll extracts, confirming India General Service Medal 1854 with Burma 1885-87 and Burma 1887-89 clasps. Medal also accompanied by Queen's South Africa and King's South Africa Medal rolls confirming Colonel Stewart was also entitled to the QSA with Belmont, Wittebergen and Transvaal clasps and KSA with two clasps.
Colonel Bryce Stewart (1857-1936) was born in Clarkesville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, USA, shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War, on 18th June 1857, the son of Bryce Stewart (1811-1894), a wealthy landowner and tobacco manufacturer, who was born in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland and emigrated to the USA in 1822.
Colonel Stewart first saw service with the Militia, being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, the Edinburgh or Queen's Regiment of Light Infantry, 3/4/1878 and subsequently saw over 30 years service with the Royal Munster Fusiliers during the period 1879-1916, being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 6/8/1879 and promoted Lieutenant, 17th April 1880, Captain, 3rd July 1887, Major, 3/71897, Lieutenant-Colonel, 23/7/1905 and Colonel, 23/7/1908. Stewart commanded the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusilers from 23rd July 1905, retiring from the army on 23rd July 1909, but volunteered for service during WW1 and commanded the Royal Munster Fusiliers Depot, 1914-1916.
Colonel Stewart first saw active service during the Burmese campaigns of 1885-87 and 1887-89 as a Lieutenant with the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers (awarded India General Service Medal and 2 clasps). Subsequently, he saw service in South Africa, 1899-1902, where he initially saw service with the rank of Major, and commanded E Company during the advance on Kimberley. On 22nd November 1899, E and G Companies of the 2nd Munsters were dispatched to Thomass Farm, 1½ miles south west of Belmont, where they were attached to the 9th Brigade, commanded by Major-General R.S. Fetherstonehaugh, in preparation for the assault of 23rd November. Following the successful assault on Belmont, Stewart took part in the operations in the Transvaal, east and west of Pretoria, July to 29th November 1900, the various operations in the Orange River Colony, May to 29th November 1900, including the actions at Lindley, 26th June, Bethlehem, 6th and 7th July, and Wittebergen, 1st 29th July. During the period of these latter operations, from 23rd March 1900 to 26th January 1901, Stewart was Brigade Major, 9th Brigade. He was also present during the operations in Cape Colony south of the Orange River, 1899-1900, and the operations in the Cape Colony north of the Orange River. Stewart continued as Brigade Major, 9th Brigade, until 26th January 1901, latterly taking part in the operations in the Transvaal, 30th November 1900 to July 1901, and the operations in the Cape Colony, July 1901 to 31st May 1902. For most of the period of these latter operations in the Cape Colony and the Transvaal, November 1900 to May 1902, Stewart acted as Station Commandant, at Bronkhurst Spruit, 20th June 1901 to October 1901, and at Orange River from 30th October 1901. For his services in South Africa Stewart was mentioned in dispatches, London Gazette, 10th September 1901, for special and meritorious service (Lord Robertss dispatch of 14th September 1901), awarded the Distinguished Service Order, London Gazette, 27th September 1901, Bryce Stewart, Major, Royal Munster Fusiliers. In recognition of services during the recent operations in South Africa, awarded the Queens South Africa Medal with 3 clasps, and the Kings South Africa Medal with 2 clasps.
Colonel Stewart is mentioned on a number of occasions in the regimental history, being recorded as one of the officers who embarked for South Africa with the 2nd Battalion at Southampton on 24/8/1899, and subsequently serving with "E" Company, 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers, holding the Orange River Bridge and Station from the declaration of war until the arrival of Lord Methuen's force there. The regimental history records that he was appointed Brigade Major, Major-General Douglas's 9th Brigade, 14/3/1900 and that he subsequently served as a Staff Officer under General Paget, and confirms the award of the DSO for service in South Africa. The regimental history also records Stewart as having been present at Aldershot on 12/5/1913, on the occasion of the first reunion of the Royal Munster Fusiliers Old Comrades Association, when King George V inspected a march past of the regiment's Old Comrades.
Colonel Stewart married, in 1891, Georgie Gholson Walter, daughter of Norman S. Walter of Statton Island, New York, USA. He died in Winchester, Hampshire, 29/2/1936. At the time of his death Colonel Stewart was resident at Hinton House, Kingsworthy, near Winchester.
Colonel Stewart's father, also Bryce Stewart, emigrated from Rothesay, Isle of Bute, to the USA with his brothers John and Daniel in 1822, and made much of his early wealth in the New Orleans cotton business. He moved to Clarkesville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, in 1834, where he operated a tobacco manufacturing business, and eventually purchased considerable property holdings in Tennese, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississipi, Florida and Virginia. At the time of his death he was reportedly the wealthiest man ever to have lived in Clarkesville.
The Bryce Stewart Papers Collection is currently housed in the Montgomery County Archives, Tennessee.
When I purchased this medal the lugs on the 1885-7 clasp were damaged and the 1887-89 clasp was missing. The lugs on the 1885-7 clasp have been repaired and the medal supplied with a genuine replacement Burma 1887-89 clasp to reflect Colonel Stewart's correct entitlement.