Full medal write up
SUTLEJ 1845-46, FOR MOODKEE 1845, CLASP, FEROZESHUHUR ‘LIEUT HENRY A: O'MOLONY 50TH REGT’
Henry Anthony O'Molony was born in 1810 and came from a very ancient Milesian family of Molony of Kiltanon, County Clare. He was the second son of Lambert Molony, formerly of the H.E.I.C.S., and again assumed the prefix which was dropped by the head of the family after the Revolution of 1688, the family name still remaining without the prefix.
Initially Commissioned Ensign in the 16th Foot in December 1833 and joined his Regiment in India in March 1835. In March 1837 he was promoted Lieutenant before transferring into the 50th Foot on 18 June 1841, who had just landed in India, serving with this Regiment during the Sutlej Campaign of 1845-6. Taking part in the battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon, he was one of the very few Officers not to be wounded during the campaign and would have almost certainly have commanded a Company during the latter battles. Lieutenant O'Molony transferred to the 60th King’s Royal Rifle Corps on 1 December 1848 but died at Meerut in 1849. He was survived by a wife, Emily Ann (whom he had married in 1844), and four young children.
The 50th were one of the few British Regiments to take part in all the major battles of the Sutlej War, the other being the 31st Foot. The regiment sustained 109 casualties at Moodkee, second highest of any Regiment and 124 at Ferozeshuhur. The latter as terrible a battle that has been fought and very almost a defeat. At Aliwal a further 121 casualties were sustained and at the final battle at Sobraon, the regiment was again in the thick of things, suffering a further 239 casualties, by far the highest casualties of any other regiment. So high were the Officer casualties, that it was a lieutenant of the 50th who commanded the Regiment when they left the field of battle. When one considers the regimental strength at the start of the campaign was around 800 and taking into account men wounded in more than one action, the amount of casualties they had over a period of less than two months; 593 killed and wounded, was staggering. 5 Officers were killed during the campaign and 32 were wounded, the latter includes several Officers wounded more than once.
O'Molony Army List entry for 1849 notes he had served with the 50th Foot during the Sutlej campaign, being present at the battles of ‘Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Aliwal and Sobraon’.
On close inspection of the medal, the Ferozeshah clasp shows signs where lugs have unevenly snapped short so presumably the Aliwal and Sobraon clasps have broken off. Possibly the carriage had been damaged or snapped at one side and over time the two clasps broke away. This was clearly not a recent breakage as where the lugs have snapped off shows similar age wear as the rest of the medal.
Condition NVF. Swivel loose, polished with a few minor knocks but a good medal to one of the best Regiments for the Sutlej campaign. Certainly worth adding the missing clasps.