New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1845 to 1847 (J. Butler, Pte. R.M., H.M.S. Racehorse) officially impressed naming, nearly very fine £1,800-£2,200

Only 35 medals issued to the Royal Navy with these dates, 34 to H.M.S. Racehorse including 9 to Royal Marines, and 1 to Hazard.

James Butler was born at Honiton, Devon, and was attested for the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marines on 17 August 1843, aged 21, a Shoemaker by trade. He was discharged at the Royal Marine Barracks at Stonehouse, Devon, on 16 October 1857. His discharge records his entitlement to the Crimea Medal with clasps for Sebastopol and Balaklava, and that he “was engaged in New Zealand storming a stockade when several were killed”. This would have been at Kawiti’s Pa during the Battle of Ruapekapeka. He served aboard H.M. ships
Racehorse, 24 December 1844 to 24 August 1848; Impregnable, 2 July 1848 to 19 February 1849; Ganges, 10 November 1849 to 27 July 1852; Sans Pareil, 2 April 1853 to 29 November 1855 (With Battalion in Crimea); London (Support), 6-28 April 1856; Ajax, 27 May 1856 to 12 October 1857.

Sold with copied service details which show some variance in the series of vessels from May 1848 to November 1857.