The rare India General Service medal awarded to Mr. Frederick Kennedy, who was awarded the...

The rare India General Service medal awarded to Mr. Frederick Kennedy, who was awarded the C.I.E. for his services as Manager of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company’s fleet during the Burma operations of 1885-87 India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Burma 1885-7 (Mr. F. C. Kennedy, C.I.E.) good very fine £1,000-£1,400 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2003. Frederick Charles Kennedy was born in Leith in 1849, the son of Peter Cuming Kennedy, a tweed merchant, of Edinburgh. Having no inclination to join his father in business, he decided to become a civil engineer. However, having qualified, he was dissatisfied with his progress and financial prospects, believing that he would have to look beyond the borders of Scotland if his ambitions were to be fulfilled. Accordingly, he offered his services to the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company (I.F.C.), of Glasgow. Formed in 1852, the Company had sent four paddle steamers to Burma for the prosecution of the second Burmese War and, on being taken over by private enterprise in 1865, it grew into the greatest river fleet the world has known. For his own part, Kennedy was engaged by the Company to replace Archibald Colquhoun, the Assistant Manager, who had died suddenly in Rangoon in October 1877. That Kennedy was appointed as the new Assistant Manager over the heads of Assistants already serving in Burma is indicative of him possessing notable qualities and promise. During the Burmese operations of 1885-87, as Manager of the I.F.C. in Burma, he directed the Flotilla throughout the campaign. He had already been told that most of the Flotilla Company’s fleet, which then comprised 35 steamers and 63 flats, plus a number of despatch launches, would be required to take the expeditionary force from Rangoon upriver. In the event, 26 steamers, twenty-eight flats, seven barges and four steam launches were requisitioned and prepared for various uses, mainly as transports for troops and stores, but some of them for fighting purposes. Some idea of the ability of these paddlers with their flats to accommodate personnel on their spacious decks can be gained from the number of Indian troops embarked by Thooreah, which had three decks, and her two flats: no less than 2,100 men. In recognition of his valuable services during the campaign Kennedy received the India Medal and was created a Companion of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.), the award being announced in the London Gazette of 29 May 1886. He subsequently became General Manager of the Company in 1894 and remained as such until 1906. Later still, his highly successful career continued apace in his role as Managing Director of the London and Edinburgh Shipping Co. Ltd., so successful that by the time of his death in Edinburgh in April 1916, aged 68, he had amassed a fortune of some £250,000. Sold with comprehensive research and a copy of Irrawaddy Flotilla, by Alister McCrae and Alan Prentice, in which Kennedy’s career is described in detail.