Indian Order of Merit

Indian Order of Merit
Indian Order of Merit (2nd Class, Military Division) (top) Ribbon (bottom)
Awarded by the British monarch
Type	Military decoration
Established	1837
Eligibility	Indian citizens in the armed forces and civilians (civilian division)
Awarded for	Gallantry
Status	Discontinued in 1947
Post-nominals	IOM
Precedence
Next (higher)	Victoria Cross

The Indian Order of Merit (IOM) was a military and civilian decoration of British India. It was established in 1837, (General Order of the Governor-General of India, No. 94 of 1 May 1837)^[1] although following the Partition of India in 1947 it was decided to discontinue the award and in 1954 a separate Indian honours system was developed, to act retrospectively to 1947. For a long period of time the IOM was the highest decoration that a native member of the British Indian Army could receive and initially it had three divisions. This was changed in 1911 when Indian servicemen became eligible for the Victoria Cross. A civilian division of the IOM also existed between 1902 and 1939, however, it was only conferred very rarely.