NAM.1992-06-175-1

Order of the Indian Empire, Companion Badge From a collection of orders and medals awarded to Col C B Stokes, 3rd Skinners Horse, 1895-1937 (c). Gold and enamel badge with suspension ring and dark blue riband. The badge is formed of a gold relief portrait bust of Queen Victoria in a central roundel within a circlet of blue enamel with the inscription, ‘Imperatricis Auspiciis’ (Under the auspices of the Empress), in gold lettering; on a rose enamelled in red and green, surmounted by a crown. Colonel C B Stokes was an Indian army officer and diplomat. He served in India and was an intelligence officer with the Dunsterforce during the First World War. He commanded the first detachment of the British Army to go to Baku arriving on 4 August 1918. Stokes was appointed High Commissioner in Transcaucasia from 1920 to 1921.