Full medal write up
INDIAN MUTINY 1857-59, NO CLASP ‘THOS. SALT, 6TH. DRAGN. GDS.’
Thomas Salt was born in Worcester and attested for the 6th Dragoon Guards (The Carabiniers) at Birmingham on 25 April 1855, aged 19. He served with them in India during the Great Sepoy Mutiny and would have been present at parade in Meerut on 9 May 1857, when mutineers of the 3rd Bengal Native Cavalry were shackled and sentenced to transportation for refusing to bite cartridges of the new Enfield rifles; this incident sparked the Indian Mutiny when soldiers of the 3rd Bengal Native Cavalry mutinied the following day. Salt was twice wounded at the battle of Narnaul (also known as Nasibpur) on 16 November, the 6th Carabiniers suffering 1 killed and wounded during the charges.
Salt’s service papers note that he was:
‘wounded twice, on 16th November 1857 at Narnoul, in the chest, and in the left arm’.
Salt continued to serve after recovering from his wounds and was discharged on 10 December 1867, after 12 years and 77 days’ service, of which 4 years and 7 months were spent soldiering in India.
The 6th Dragoon Guards casualty return for Narnaul, LG 22 Feb 1858, lists 1 Private Killed, 1 Corporal and 9 Privates wounded. However the published casualty roll only lists 1 Private killed and 7 Privates wounded. Additionally 1 Pte DOW a few days later who is likely from Narnoul. As such one Private (Salt) and one unrecorded Corporal have been missed the published casualty roll. See the following excellent article regarding the casualties at and battle of Narnaul:
https://mutinyreflections.com/2024/08/02/returns-and-misconceptions/
Condition VF. With copy service papers. A scarce casualty medal for the charge at Narnoul.