Full medal write up
AFGHANISTAN 1878, 3 CLASPS PEIWAR KOTAL, CHARASIA, KABUL ‘SUB LIEUT: C. H. GAISFORD. 72ND HIGHRS’.
“Cecil Henry Gaisford, who fell in action before Kabul on the 14 December, 1879, was the eldest son of Lieut.-Colonel Gaisford, of The Grove, Dunboyne, late of the 72nd Highlanders. He was born at Galway on the 20 September 1856, and was educated at Eton. Entering the army in September 1876, he proceeded, twelve months afterwards, to India; and on the 30 of November 1877, joined, at Sialkot, the headquarters of the 72nd Highlanders, his father’s old regiment, to which he had been gazetted.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Afghan War, in the autumn of 1878, Gaisford was on detachment at Ranikhet in command of a company, his Captain having left for England. The responsible duty of marching his men and followers a distance of 500 miles to overtake the regiment, then en route for the front, consequently fell to him. He accomplished this in two months and, joining the right wing, served with it in the whole of its subsequent operation till the day of his death. He was one of the Officers who took part in the successful and gallant assault of the Peiwar Kotal on the 2 December, 1878. Here the 72nd Highlanders and the 5th Goorkhas made an uphill attack on the Afghans mountainous positions on Spingawi Kotal and carried in spite of the desperate resistance of the enemy; this the subject of the famous painting by Vereker Monteith Hamilton.
https://www.britishbattles.com/second-afghan-war/battle-of-peiwar-kotal/
A few days afterwards he took part, with 250 of the 72nd, in General Roberts’ reconnaissance to the Shutargardan; and on the 15 December he was present at the repulse of the Mangals in the Sapiri defile. During the spring and autumn of 1879, he acted as Adjutant to his regiment, and as Brigade Major at Ali Khel. On the renewal of hostilities, in September 1879, he was again at the Shutargardan, in General Baker’s Brigade; and at the battle of Charasiab, on the 6 October, was with the two companies of the 72nd when they so splendidly carried the Red Ridge, the enemy’s right centre.
https://www.britishbattles.com/second-afghan-war/battle-of-charasiab/
On the 14 of December 1879, Gaisford commanded one of the three companies of the 72nd consisting 194 rifles, which under Colonel Brownlow, stormed the Asmai heights. The operations on this occasion have been variously described, but all accounts agree that the capture of the highest peak by the 72nd and Guides was “splendid.” Of this there can be no doubt, for it was in full view of Sherpur. It was in the evening of the same day, whilst elements of the 72nd were covering the retirement of troops from the hill which had been so bravely won, that Gaisford received his death-wound. The awful suddenness of the shock could not, however, quell the gallantry of his spirit. Indicating his sword, he called on his comrades to take care of it, “because it was his father’s……………
Condition near mint, still retaining frosted finish to bust. A quite superb and extremely rare medal to a Highland Officer Killed in Afghanistan.