The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (or herself) by important and useful service in the advancement of the public interest in India."
The name "Kaisar-i-Hind" ( qaisar-e-hind) literally means "Emperor of India" in the Urdu language. The word kaisar, meaning "emperor" is a derivative of the Roman imperial title Caesar, via Persian (see Qaysar-i Rum) from Greek Καίσαρ Kaísar, and is cognate with the German title Kaiser, which was borrowed from Latin at an earlier date.See Witzel, Michael, "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts", p. 29, 12.1 PDF Based upon this, the title Kaisar-i-Hind was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G.W. Leitner as the official imperial title for the British monarch in India.B.S. Cohn, "Representing Authority in Victorian India", in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (1983), 165-209, esp. 201-2. The last ruler to bear it was George VI.
Kaisar-i-Hind was also inscribed on the obverse side of the India General Service Medal (1909), as well as on the Indian Meritorious Service Medal.:File:India General Service Medal 1909 G5-v1.jpg
History Empress of India or Kaisar-i-Hind, a term coined by the orientalist G.W. Leitner in a deliberate attempt to dissociate British imperial rule from that of preceding dynasties was taken by Queen Victoria from 1 May 1876, and proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877.
The medal was instituted by Queen Victoria on 10 April 1900. The name translates as "Emperor of India" (a name also used for a rare Indian butterfly, Teinopalpus imperialis). The Royal Warrant for the Kaisar-i-Hind was amended in 1901, 1912, 1933 and 1939. While never officially rescinded, the Kaisar-i-Hind ceased to be awarded following the passage of the Indian Independence Act 1947. The awards of the gold medal were often published in the London Gazette, while other classes were published in the Gazette of India.
Medal grades and design The medal had three grades. The Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal for Public Service in India was awarded directly by the monarch on the recommendation of the Secretary of State for India. Silver and Bronze medals were awarded by the Viceroy. The medal consisted of an oval-shaped badge or decoration in gold, silver or bronze with the Royal Cipher and Monarchy on one side, and the words "Kaisar-i-Hind for Public Service in India" on the other. It was to be worn suspended from the left breast by a dark blue ribbon. The medal has no post-nominal initials.
One of its most famous recipient is Mahatma Gandhi, who was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind in 1915 by The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst for his contribution to ambulance services in South Africa. Gandhi returned the medal following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre carried out by the British officials and wrote, "In European countries, condonation of such grievous wrongs as the khilafat and the Punjab would have resulted in bloody revolution by the people."
Notable recipients Award of the Medal and Bar to the Medal Lillian Agnes Starr, Gold Medal with Bar; awarded in 1923 as Matron-in-charge of the C.M.S. Mission Hospital, Peshawar Olive Monahan, Gold Medal with Bar; retired Chief Medical Officer Kalyani Hospital, Madras Cornelia Sorabji, Gold Medal with Bar; first female advocate in India; first woman to practice law in India and Britain Lucia Navamani Virasinghe-Chinnappa, awarded Medal 1937 & Bar to the Medal 1941; pioneered maternity and child health on the Indian subcontinent.
Award of the medal
Gold medal
Sardar Khan Bahadur Mir Abdul Ali, JP, Bombay, 9 November 1901 Dr Margaret Ida Balfour, Scottish doctor and campaigner for women's medical health issues Dr Mary Ronald Bisset, Scottish physician and missionary for women's medical health. Florence Mary Macnaghten, British - Scottish CMS nurse / in charge of the Canadian Zanana Mission Hospital at Kangra, Punjab, India, for 1905 earthquake relief work and for women's medical health. Richard Burn, for famine services in 1907–08"BURN, Sir Richard", in Who Was Who, A & C Black, online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014; retrieved 27 May 2014. Shankar Madhav Chitnavis, Esq., Deputy-Commissioner, Central Provinces, 9 November 1901 Major General Thomas Arthur Cooke, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Jim Corbett, 2 January 1928 The Lady Curzon of Kedleston, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Major Herbert Edward Deane, R.A.M.C., 9 November 1901 Major Thomas Edward Dyson, MB, CM, Indian Medical Service, 9 November 1901 Mrs E J Firth, of Madras, awarded medal on 9 November 1901 for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Lieutenant Colonel Robert Shore, Irish Surgeon, M.A., M.D., R.U.I., L.F.P.S.G., Indian Medical Service, 1 January 1906Evening Mail, London England, Jan 1 January 1906, Page 6Indian Medical Gazette, April 1912, Page 168 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (returned 1920) V. Krishnaswamy Iyer (justice of the madras high court) He was awarded the Medal for his public service contributions Major General Sir William Forbes Gatacre, chairman of the plague committee of Bombay City 1896 and 1897 N S Glazebrook, Esq., JP, of Bombay, 9 November 1901 Very Rev John A. Graham, D.D., for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Thomas Holderness, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Sydney Hutton Cooper Hutchinson, Esq., AMICE, Superintendent of Telegraphs, 9 November 1901 The Most Hon Alice Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading Reverend William Henry Jackson of the Blind School, Kemmendine, Rangoon, awarded the gold medal for public services in India, 1930. Colonel Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, KCIE, Indian Staff Corps, 9 November 1901 Hakim Ajmal Khan, physician and one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia University Isabel Kerr, Scottish medical missionary in India in the early 20th-century, created the Victoria Leprosy Centre in Hyderabad, and worked to cure leprosy across India. Taw Sein Ko, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Harrington Verney Lovett, Esq., Indian Civil Service, 9 November 1901 Elizabeth Adelaide Manning, awarded the medal in 1904 for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Sir Francis William Maclean, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Herbert Frederick Mayes, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, Indian Civil Service, 9 Nov 1901 Lieutenant-Colonel James McCloghry, FRCS, Indian Medical Service, 9 November 1901 Miss Eleanor McDougall, awarded Medal of the First Class in June 1923 for her work as Principal of the Women's Christian College, Madras A Donald Miller, MBE, (1939) for work with the Leprosy Mission 1921-1942 Rev Charles Henry Monahan, awarded Medal of the First Class in February 1937 for his work as General Superintendent, Methodist Missionary Society, Madras Olive Monahan, Gold Medal with Bar, retired Chief Medical Officer Kalyani Hospital, Madras Sarojini Naidu, Received gold medal for organising flood relief work in Hyderabad, later returned in protest over Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Amina Hydari - social worker, reformer, activist. Received medal for organising flood relief work in Hyderabad during the Musi floods. Vidyagauri Nilkanth, social reformer, educationist, and writer William Florey Noyce, Esq., Extra-Assistant Commissioner and Assistant Secretary to the Financial Commissioner, Burma, 9 November 1901 Dr John David O′Donnell, MBE, VD, FRCSEd, Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer, Kolar Gold Fields, Mysore, July 1926 Babu Sri Ram, Rai Bahadur, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj V. P. Madhava Rao, CIE Mary Reed (missionary), 1917, for missionary services to lepers Thomas d'Esterre Roberts, S.J., Archbishop of Bombay, for services to the forces during World War IIHurn, David Abner, Archbishop Roberts S.J., Darton, Longman & Todd, 1st edition, 1966, page 43 HH Madho Rao Scindia, Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior Lieutenant-Colonel Sir David Semple, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Rai Bahadur Kameleshwari Pershad Singh of Monghyr, Bengal HH Ganga Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner Maharaja Rameshwar Singh Bahadur of Darbhanga Donald Mackenzie Smeaton CSI, Scottish Liberal MP and Indian civil servant Cornelia Sorabji, Gold Medal with Bar, first female advocate in India, first woman to practice law in India and Britain Robert Barton Stewart, Esq., Indian Civil Service, 9 November 1901 Dr William Stokes, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Rev Dr Frederick Vincent Thomas, Baptist Medical Mission, Palwal Edgar Thurston, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Gajadhar Upadhaya, Esq., Chief Regimental Religious Teacher, 1st (K.G.V.s Own) G.R. [Gurkha Rifles]Office of the Private Secretary to the Viceroy (NAI), 4-H/1948. Raja Ravi Verma, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Captain Edmund Wilkinson, FRCS, Indian Medical Service, 9 November 1901 HH Rajagopala Krishna Yachendra, Maharaja of Venkatagiri. Arthur Delaval Younghusband, civil servant, awarded for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer Dr Jean Murray Orkney, Chief Medical Officer, Women's Medical Service Jane Leeke Latham, missionary head in 1938. Dhanvanthi Rama Rau for her work with women's associations.
Silver medal Kheroth Bose, medical missionary, for bringing medical care to rural India.Building with India, page 207. Full text archive Blanche Brenton Carey, Church of England Zenana Missionary in Karachi, for services to the women and girls of India, 1928. Sita Devi Sahiba, Maharajkumarani of Kapurthala, New Year's Honours list 1944 Diana Hartley, General and Organising Secretary of the Trained Nurses Association of India, 1944 Alice Headwards-Hunter, surgeon, 1945 Dr Mina MacKenzie, medical doctor for over 30 years of public service in India, including helping control the cholera epidemic during the 1906 Kumbh Mela pilgrimage Dr Alexandrina Matilda MacPhail, medical missionary Clare Spurgin, for establishing a hospital for wives of Indian Army soldiers Alexander Steel, for services to cotton growingGlasgow Herald 1916 Helen Vorley, for her part in facilitating the evacuation of 300,000 Indians from Burma in 1942Leigh, Michael D. 2014 The evacuation of civilians from Burma: analysing the 1942 colonial disaster Sir William James Wanless, for distinguished service in the advancement of the interests of the British Raj
Bronze medal Clara Anne Williams (née Rendall), 1946, for her work during WWII being in-charge of Red Cross Work in Dooars, Bengal.
Unknown grade
1930 Captain Albert Edward Warhurst for service to the people of India during the 1929 floods in Assam Dewan Bahadur Justice C.V. Viswanatha Sastri Kaviraja Shyamaldas (1836–1893), one of the first modern Indian historian and author of Vir Vinod; Kaviraja and Dewan of Udaipur StateCultural contours of India p37 Frederick Booth-Tucker, Commissioner in the Salvation Army General Sir Charles John Burnett Alfred Bramwell Cook, chief medical officer of the Emery Hospital, Anand, Gujarat Liston Garthwaite (May, 1900) Khamliana Sailo, a Mizo chief, for developing of terracing, poultry farming, fruits, tobacco and turmeric including agricultural businesses in Mizoram.