Indian Silver Card Case Fascinating Provenance

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Seller: bentleysix ✉️ (580) 0%, Location: Ashbourne, Derbyshire, GB, Ships to: GB, Item: 292366096126 Indian Silver Card Case.

I bought this Indian silver card case many years ago; it is not only a beautiful object in its own right but unlike the great majority of these cases, this one has a most unusual historic and military provenance.

The Card Case

This is a very fine Indian silver card case with a most interesting and historic military provenance relating to the final years of the Raj and the nineteenth century. The case, which has a hinged lid, measures 9.5cm by 6.5cm by 1cm, and weighs 108gms, is heavily cast and embossed with the figures of four deities on one side and a fort or palace with palm trees on the other. The workmanship is of a very high standard, the silver is deeply chased, and the case is in perfect condition, possibly unused. There is no hallmark or makers mark, but most Indian silver of this period was unmarked and it is almost certainly .900 silver, not that this is important.

 

The Provenance

Inscribed around three sides of the case is "WITH ALL KIND WISHES FROM COLONEL AND MRS PULLEY".

 

The London Gazette of November 24th 1874 (5607) reported the appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet Colonel Charles Pulley, of the Madras Infantry.

 

A brevet rank was an honorary promotion given to an officer (or occasionally, an enlisted man) in recognition of gallant conduct or other meritorious service.

 

The London Gazette of May 20th 1898 (3167) announced Brevet Colonel Pulley’s appointment to Colonel.

 

Colonel Pulley commanded 1st Battalion, 3rd Gurkhas, during the Raj period, the closing years of the 19th century. In "The Campaign in Tirah 1897-1898" (Google Books) there is an account of how Colonel Pulley's 3rd Gurkhas "scaled the towering heights on either flank of the advance and secured key points".

 

Colonel Pulley and his wife, Edith Marion, had three sons, born in 1881, 1882 and 1885 when Colonel Pulley was a Lieutenant in the Bengal Staff Corps. It is believed that Mrs Pulley died in India in1888 while giving birth to a daughter who was named Edith Marion after her mother.

 

Colonel Pulley retired from the British army in August 1906, moved back to Great Britain and lived at "Llanberis," Langton Green, Tunbridge Wells. He was later awarded the CB, which is awarded for service of the highest calibre.

Charles, the eldest son, was born in Surrey while his two brothers were both born in India. Charles joined the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1898 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery in 1900. He served in India as an Adjutant in the Territorial Force from 1908 to 1912. He was promoted to Major in 1914 and went to France on 25th August 1914.

Charles was commanding officer of the 68th Battery, Royal Field Artillery when he was wounded in action near Ypres in Belgium and later died of his wounds on 26th July 1915 at Lady Mountgarret’s Hospital for Officers, in London. He is buried at Speldhurst (St. Mary) Churchyard.

In August 1921, Colonel Charles Pulley unveiled the Langton Green war memorial to those officers and men who fell in The Great War. Colonel Pulley finished his moving oration with the words:

“meantime let us cherish in affectionate and proud memory these our dear ones who in England's hour of dire distress and peril, when the fate of the Empire hung in the balance, responded to the 'call to arms', and died as British soldiers know how to die, unflinching to the last”

Colonel Pulley's son, Major Charles Pulley, is one of the officers named on the memorial.

 

 

 

  • Condition: In perfect unused condition
  • Composition: Solid Silver
  • Product: Indian Silver Card Case
  • Age: 1850-1899

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