60th Royal American Regiment 1815, 5th Battalion, gold medal, 32.3 mm., Obv ‘Royal American Regiment’ surrounding ‘60’ over scroll inscribed ‘Fifth Battn.’, date ‘1815’ below; Rev. inscribed “Presented to A. Hennerhofer, Quartermaster. A Token of Regard from his Comrades who served with him in the Peninsula’, fitted with small gold ring, gilt straight bar suspension, and gilt two-prong ribbon buckle, pin lacking on this, very fine and very rare £800-1000

Provenance: John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Stack’s, New York, 18 January 2005 (Ex J. Douglas Ferguson, 26 October 1959).

Augustus Hennerhofer was commissioned Quarter-Master in the 60th Foot, from Quarter-Master-Serjeant, on 25 November 1807. His death is recorded in the London Gazette of 15 April 1815: ‘Quarter-Master-Serjeant John Keins to be Quarter-Master, vice Hannerhoffer, deceased. Dated April 6, 1815.’

The 60th retained its title ‘Royal American Regiment’ until 1824. The fifth battalion was raised in 1797 to serve as riflemen only in America. There were to be 17 officers and 300 men. They were the first to wear the rifleman’s green jacket and gave the present regiment its designation, The Royal Green Jackets. The fifth battalion served in the troubles in Ireland in 1798 and on the Peninsula from 1808-13, and was disbanded in 1815.