Orders, Decorations and Medals

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 4 clasps, Copenhagen 1801, Trafalgar, St. Domingo, 27 July Boat Service 1809 (J. Reeve, Midshipman) suspension claw re-fixed, carriage bent and possibly re-assembled, nearly very fine £6000-8000

Only 10 clasps issued for the Boat Service action on 27 July 1809. A second medal to this man, as Master’s Mate, was sold by Spink in the Stansfeld Collection in June 1984.

John Reeve was born in London and entered the Navy as a Volunteer 1st Class in May 1799 aboard the Agamemnon, in which ship he fought as a Midshipman at Copenhagen. Joining the Diligence sloop in March 1803, he spent the next two years and three months employed in the North Sea, in the Baltic, and off Boulogne. In August 1805 he once again joined the Agamemnon and took part in the battle of Trafalgar and, as Master’s Mate, in the action off St Domingo in February 1806. He was confirmed a Lieutenant in February 1808 and appointed to L’Aimable in April 1809, in the boats of which vessel he served at the capture and destruction of the fort of Bremerlé and Cuxhaven. He received further promotions to Commander in 1830, to Captain in 1851, and to Rear-Admiral in 1867. He died in 1868.