Turkish Crimea Medal, 1855, Sardinian issue, awarded to Captain William Gair, 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabineers)

Silver, circular campaign medal designed by James Robertson (1813-1888), with on the obverse, the Ottoman Sultan's monogram and the Muslim calendar year of 1271. On the reverse, a trophy of arms with colours, a cannon, anchor and a mortar, the flags of the allies, and a campaign honour, 'La Crimea 1855', in the exergue. The medal is suspended on a crimson ribbon with green edges.

Gair served as a Deputy Assistant Commissary, Field Train Department in the Crimea. In 1857 he was commissioned into the 3rd West India Regiment, transferring as a cornet in 1858 to the 6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers), with which he served in India during the suppression of the mutiny within the Bengal Army. In 1864, as a captain, he joined the 77th (The East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot and remained in service until his death on 30 July 1867.

It had been the intention of the Turkish Sultan to award all Allied veterans of the Crimean War with a silver medal, which he instituted in 1855. Approximately 75,000 medals were claimed by Britain. However not all these reached their destination, owing to a shortfall in production and the loss of a consignment of some 22,000 medals when the SS 'Pomona' sank near Malta on 22 February 1860. The shortage in British medals was made up to a great extent by issuing British soldiers with Sardinian or French versions.