Orders, Decorations and Medals

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Richd. Wolseley, Asst. Surn. XX Regt. 1854) contemporary engraved naming, with ornate silver brooch bar, claw tightened but slack, edge bruising, contact marks, nearly very fine £600-800

Richard Wolseley was born in Co. Dublin on 30 June 1834, the second son of Major Garnet Joseph Wolseley and the younger brother of Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley. He was appointed an Assistant Surgeon with the 20th Foot on 28 July 1854. With them he served with distinction in the Crimea, being present at the battles of Alma, Balaklava and Inkermann - being wounded at this latter action; and in the siege of Sebastopol, including the assaults of 18 June and 8 September 1855.

At Inkermann, a detachment of the 20th Foot found itself with men of the Coldstream Guards at the Sandbag Battery. In this advanced position Assistant Surgeon Wolseley established a dressing station. Left behind, as the Guards and men of the 20th advanced, he became involved in the confused fighting which followed their repulse. In a desperate position finding themselves cut off and being the only officer around, Wolseley led a charge through the enemy lines to safety. He wrote:

‘I remained for some time in the Battery attending as well as I could to some wounded men. I also collected some ammunition from the pouches of the wounded men, for men who had exhausted their supply. After a short time ... the order was given by someone to ‘retire and keep up the hill’. The line of retreat was along the side of the hill. We had not gone more than fifty yards to the rear when we found a line of Russians drawn up, cutting off our retreat. In consequence of the thick mist they were not visible until we were within twenty or thirty yards from them. They apeared to me as a very close line of skirmishers and when first seen were firing rapidly at us. On looking round me I found I was the only officer within sight and gave the order to the men who were close to me to ‘fix bayonets, charge and keep up the hill’. We charged through the enemy, losing, I should think about half our number.’

The reported last words of the mortally wounded General Sir George Cathcart, commanding the Guards and other units in their fight for freedom was, ‘Nobly done, Twentieth’. Colour Sergeant (later Captain) P. Geraghty later wrote of Wolseley, ‘... I may here say that Dr. Wolseley was always to be seen where there was the greatest danger, he volunteered for, and did duty in the Trenches every night his Regt. was ordered there, and by arrangement, left the Hospital duties to others’.

Wolseley was appointed to the Staff in August 1856 and then to the 24th Foot in January 1857. Returning to the Staff in July 1859, he was promoted to Surgeon in March 1867 and was later ranked as Surgeon-Major in the Army Medical Department.

After being advanced to Brigade Surgeon in November 1879 he served for a time in Afghanistan during 1880. He attained the rank of Deputy Surgeon General in September 1883. He died at Meerut following a fall from his horse on 22 December 1886. Sold with copied research.