HALF-BASKET HILT SWORD #2 CARRIED BY MAJOR RNM MACPHERSON
2nd i/c 40th Pathans, Indian Army
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On display are his Rifle Regiment Officer's Sword, standard pattern, circa 1905, his 40th Pathans Cap Badge and the Tibet Medal (1903-1904). The Medal was awarded for recognition of service in the expedition to Tibet commanded by Major Francis Younghusband (later Lt. Colonel Sir Francis Younghusband KCSI KCIE). The invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, was intended to prevent the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a foothold in one of the buffer states surrounding British India.
Major Macpherson was killed at Behobeho on the Rufiji River on the 18th April 1917 in the 1914-1919 campaign in Tanganyika against German General Von Lettow-Vorbeck.
Donated by his son, M.R.N. Macpherson, Natal, South Africa