Ceremonial baton, Lieutenant Colonel Sir James Dunlop Smith, Coronation of King George V, 1911

Wooden baton painted red, with gold painted tips and a King's crown with the royal cypher of George V cypher below, with '1911' and a scroll bearing the inscription 'Coronation' painted in gold below.

Lieutenant Colonel Sir James Dunlop Smith was born in Calcutta on 24 August 1858. He was educated at Edinburgh University and Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot in 1879. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1881 and a year later transferred to the Indian Staff Corps. He was appointed Private Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in 1883, eventually becoming the Private Secretary to the Viceroy, Lord Minto, between 1905 to 1910. This elegant baton was presented to Smith to mark the occasion of King George V's coronation in 1911. Smith died in 1921.