An original Horse Guards’ Peninsular War Medal forwarding letter, addressed to ‘Captain T. G. Coppinger, late of 96, formerly of 97 Rgt.’, and enclosing ‘the Medal & clasp graciously awarded to you by Her Majesty under the General Order of the 1st of June 1847’, dated at Horse Guards on 6 February 1849 and signed by Somerset, good overall condition and unusual £80-100

Thomas Coppinger was appointed a Lieutenant in the 97th Regiment in February 1805, which corps had originally been formed in 1798 as The Queen’s Germans or Minorca Regiment (Stuart’s Regiment), and would be re-designated the 96th Foot in 1812, the same year as Coppinger’s advancement to Captain. In the interim, he had been present at Vimiera and Busaco, and been severely wounded at St. Christoval during the repulse of a sortie from Badajoz on 10 May 1811 - he was granted a temporary pension of £100 per annum in the following year. His Military General Service 1793-1814, with clasps for “Vimiera” and “Busaco”, in its original card box of issue, was sold by Glendining’s in 1969 and by Spink in 1989, and more recently in these Rooms (Dix Noonan Webb, 25 February 1998, Lot 32).