THE RARE AN EMOTIVE SECOND AFGHAN WAR BETTLE OF MAIWAND D.C.M. AWARDED TO A GUNNER, E BATTERY, B BRIGADE, ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY, FOR ‘CONSPICUOUSLY GALLANT CONDUCT DURING THE ACTION AT MAIWAND AND SUBSEQUENT RETREAT TO KANDAHAR’. HIS AWARD SPECIFICALLY FOR THE RETREAT ITSELF FOR THE PART HE PLAYED IN ‘BRINGING IN ITS FOUR REMAINING GUNS, THE FORGE-WAGGON, STORE CART AND ONE SMOOTH-BORE GUN AFTER A LONG AND TRYING MARCH OF UPWARDS OF FIFTY MILES’

DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT MEDAL, V.R. ‘4278. GUNR. T. TIGHE. R.H.A.’

D.C.M. recommendation submitted to the Queen 1 February 1881, approved 5 March 1881:

‘For conspicuously gallant conduct during the action at Maiwand and subsequent retreat to Kandahar on 27th and 28th July last.’

Gunner Tighe’s and 3 others medals specifically awarded for the retreat itself:

‘The conduct of these NCO’s and men during the retreat was most praiseworthy and to their example, energy and perseverance is due the success of E-Battery in bringing in its four remaining guns, the forge-waggon, store cart and one smooth-bore gun after a long and trying march of upwards of fifty miles’

Thomas Tighe was born in 1846 in St George’s Parish, Dublin, and worked as a labourer before enlisting in the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) at Dublin on 27 December 1864, aged 18. His medical examination took place on 5 January 1865. It is possible, based on his Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Service Record, that earlier in 1864 Tighe first enlisted in the 19th Regiment of Foot (the Green Howards), but left them before he could be drafted to join the Regiment, which was on foreign service in India. On 1 August 1871, Tighe’s Royal Horse Artillery Medical History sheet recorded his conduct as ‘Regular. Good. Temperate.’ Serving as a Gunner in E/B Battery R.H.A. during the Second Afghan War, Tighe was awarded the Distinguished conduct medal for his gallantry during the battle of Maiwand and subsequent retreat……

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Condition GVF, a little contact wear from campaign medal. Sold with copied research. Ex Seaby’s 1979 and Morton and Eden 2023.

A rare and emotive DCM for one of the most disastrous battles of the Victorian era. If ever paired with Tighe’s Afghanistan medal, the value of the D.C.M. will double at the very least.