Height overall: 15.2cm (5.75in)
Silver. Modelled in the form of a light infantry bugle and strings, containing Roman numeral XIII, for the SLI’s order of precedence in the line infantry, surmounted by a mural crown beneath the battle honour scroll inscribed 'Jellalabad', in commemoration of the five month long defence of that place by the 13th Foot in the First Afghan War (1841-42), the base applied with a plaque inscribed 'Presented to / Major H.M. Martin / on the occasion of his marriage / by former brother officers of the / 13th Light Infantry / 10th Feb. 1910’. Maker’s mark of Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co, 112 Regent Street, London. Hallmarked London, 1909.
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Major Herbert Maxwell Martin (1865-1951) was born in Coorg, India, the son of Major George Martin, Madras Infantry, and Cecilia, daughter of Major-General Sir John Campbell, KCSI, CB. He followed the unusual route of enlisting in the 12th (Prince of Wales’s Own) Lancers, and, after rising rapidly to the rank of Sergeant, was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant ‘on augmentation’ in the Somerset Light Infantry in 1890. He was subsequently promoted Lieutenant in 1893 and Captain in 1900. He was Aide-de-Camp to Governor of Madras, Lord Ampthill who was four years his junior. They were both enthusiastic Freemasons. Martin attended the 1903 Delhi Durbar in his role as Ampthill’s ADC. Major Martin transferred to The Duke of Cambridge’s Own Middlesex Regiment prior to his marriage in Kensington in 1910. He served in France and Flanders during the Great War.