Pair: Quartermaster Sergeant William Aitkin, Royal Artillery, the last Peninsula veteran to serve in the ranks of the Yeomen of the Guard

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Badajoz, St. Sebastian, Nivelle, Toulouse (W. Aitkin, Qr. Mr. Serjt. Royal Arty.); Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., large letter reverse (W. Aitkin, Qr. Master Serj. Royal Artillery. 1842) fitted with original steel clip and bar suspension, both impressed with small collector’s number by suspension, light contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine (2) £2000-2500

Ex Puttick & Simpson, June 1904; Spink, November 1910; Glendining, July 1927: D.N.W., September 2008.

William Aitkin joined the Royal Artillery in March 1801 and served for 41 years and 10 months before joining the Yeomen of the Guard in 1842. He was awarded the L.S. & G.C. medal in 1842, the medal itself being sent to the Ordnance Office on 10 June 1843, and 5 years later the M.G.S. medal with 4 clasps for his services in the Peninsula with Trelawney’s Company, 5 Battalion R.A. Aitkin would have been on duty on 10 April and 12 June, 1848, when the Chartists’ Riots took place in London and the Yeomen of the Guard were called out on duty, armed with muskets and fixed bayonets. On 18 November 1852, he was one of those Sergeants Major escorting Wellington’s funeral party. In 1857 he is shown in the Army List on the roll of eight Sergeants Major of the Guard. He was present at the wedding of the Prince of Wales on 18 March 1863, and at the inspection of the Guard by him on 29 June 1869. William Aitkin died on 14 November 1871 with a combined service of almost 71 years. He was the last Peninsula veteran to serve in the ranks of the Yeomen of the Guard and the Yeomen Warders.