Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., Anchor obverse with scarce ‘inverted’ reverse (Henry Isum Master at Arms H.M.S. Samarang 25 Years) pierced with two rings for suspension, nearly extremely fine £1,400-£1,800

Awards of the L.S. & G.C. medal issued during 1833-35 were struck with the reverse accidentally inverted relative to the obverse. Fewer than 20 examples from this period are known to have survived today.

Henry Isum was born in the Parish of East Stonehouse, Devon, and attested into the Royal Marines on 29 April 1806, aged 20, a ‘taylor’ by trade. He was "set off the rolls" (discharged) from the Royal Marines on 25 November 1814, due to a ‘diseased left arm’, but there seems to be no record of where he served in these 8 years.

On 7 December 1816, he joined the Navy as a volunteer and was sent to Princess Charlotte as an A.B. He was a married man living in East Stonehouse when he joined Samarang from Hyperion on 3 June 1831, on commissioning, as Master at Arms, at the age of 42, and remained in her until paying off on 13 January 1835. He was awarded his L.S. & G.C. medal and gratuity on 19 January 1835.

Samarang was a 6th Rate 28-gun frigate launched at Cochin in January 1822. Between 1842 and 1847 she was used as a surveying vessel in the China Seas, under Captain Sir Edward Belcher, and became a guardship in May 1847.

Sold with copied record of service.