China 1842 (William Couch, H.M.S. Wellesley) polished, otherwise nearly very fine £600-700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Tim Ash.

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William Couch was born in the Parish of St Andrew’s, Plymouth, in June 1816. He served aboard H.M.S. Talbot from November 1836 to July 1837, and joined H.M.S. Wellesley as an Able Seaman at Plymouth on 6 July 1837. Wellesley took part in the quelling of an insurrection on the coast of Malabar during 1838, and at the capture of Kurrachee in February 1839. In the following month she was present at the evacuation of the British Residency at Bushire in the Persian Gulf, occasioned by the critical state of relations then existing between Britain and Persia.

H.M.S. Wellesley fired the first shot of the China War at the capture of Chusan Island on 6 July 1840. She subsequently took part in the operations in the Bocca Tigris leading to the capture of the Bogue Forts guarding the entrance to Canton, January to March 1841, the siege of Canton in May 1841, the capture of Amoy in August 1841, and the re-capture of Chusan Island and the capture of Chinghae in October 1841. William Couch was paid off at Plymouth on 4 August 1842.

Sold with a comprehensive file of research covering the commission of the Wellesley in the China War.