China 1857-60, 1 clasp, Pekin 1860 (Midsn. Mr. M. I. Sutton, Indian Navy Sp. Zenobia) officially impressed naming, good very fine £400-£500

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, March 2002.

Meyrick John Sutton was born in Reepham, Lincolnshire, on 10 October 1841, the son of the Reverend John Sutton, Vicar of Reepham, and entered the Indian Navy as a Midshipman in June 1857, serving aboard the steam frigate Zenobia, during which time he landed in China as part of the Zenobia’s Naval Brigade, and was present at the actions of Chang-kai-Wan and Pa-li-Chian, and as part of the small Naval Brigade that entered Pekin, 13 October 1860.

Sutton left the Indian Navy in 1862, and entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in Michaelmas 1862. He was Ordained Deacon in 1866, and Priest in 1867, and held the living of numerous parishes, latterly being Vicar of Grantchester, Cambridge, from 1904-16. He died at Upper Norwood on 20 September 1927, aged 85.

Note: China Medals to the Navy were originally issued un-named, the only exception being those medals awarded to the Indian Navy, late of the H.E.I.C. service. As the Zenobia was the only Indian Navy ship to receive this clasp, it provides the only named medals with clasp Pekin 1860 awarded to the Navy as a whole. The Indian Navy was abolished in 1863.

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