Diameter: 15.4cm (6in)
Silver. Hampshire Regiment presentation capstan inkwell, the lid engraved with Hampshire Rose (as conferred upon the city of Winchester in 1415 by Henry V en route to Agincourt), within a laurel wreath and the Royal Tiger and battle honour scroll ‘INDIA’ gained by the 2nd Battalion for its service on the subcontinent between 1805 and 1826. The flared base further engraved with regimental battle honour scrolls from Blenheim (1704) to Kut-Al-Amara, 1915-17 and presentation inscription, ‘Presented by the Drums to Captain H.H. Robinson Adjutant as a token of their regard’. Maker’s mark of Hallmarked Birmingham 1938.
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Colonel J.H.H. Robinson, OBE, DSO & Bar was Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment in 1938 (Army List p. 545-8). He afterwards commanded the 5th Hampshires in Italy when as part of the 128th (Hampshire) Brigade it participated in fierce fighting on Monte Ornito and Monte Cerasola. He awarded a bar to his DSO for the operation on Cerasola in early 1944, and received a letter from General Richard McCreery, commanding X Corps, congratulating him and the battalion for the ‘fine fighting qualities and great toughness and endurance’ they had displayed. He was acting commander of the Hampshire Brigade 1944-45.