Orders, Decorations and Medals

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Pelagosa 29 Novr. 1811 (R. Goodridge, Midshipman) original but frayed ribbon, light scratches on obverse, otherwise nearly extremely fine £3000-3500

Approximately 64 clasps issued for this action.

Richard Goodridge entered the Navy, 26 July 1808, as second class boy on board the Temeraire, in which ship he served in the Baltic and off the port of Cadiz, under Captain Sir Charles Seymour, and subsequently under Rear-Admirals Manley Dixon and Francis Pickmore. He became a Midshipman in 1809 and joined the Unité in March 1811, in which ship, on 1st May 1811, he was wounded in a very gallant action of an hour and a half in Sagone Bay, where, in company with the Pomone and Scout, they effectually destroyed the two armed store-ships Giraffe and Nourice, each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, and protected by a five gun battery, a martello tower, and a body of about 200 regular troops.

He also assisted, on 29 November the same year, in capturing after a severe running fight of four hours, the 26-gun store-ship La Persanne. In January 1813 he removed for a few months to the Pylades sloop, but then rejoined the Unité, and continued to serve in that frigate until October 1814, when he transferred to the Menai. On his return from North America in January 1817, he joined the Coast Blockade as Midshipman of the Severn. Promoted Lieutenant in 1819, Goodridge subsequently took charge of a station in the Coast Guard.

Note: Another medal with this clasp was sold by Spink in November 1991, named to ‘R. Goodridge’ but without rank on the edge. Although the medal rolls show only one Richard Goodridge (Midshipman for Pelagosa), the Navy List for 1852 shows a second Richard Goodridge (a Paymaster of 1800 and Purser of the Thunderer during the Syria operations of 1840-41) and denotes that he also was in receipt of a medal with one clasp. Unfortunately the Navy List does not record which clasps he received but it is probable that his medal was a later claim for Syria, for which records no longer exist, and that his medal has been subsequently fitted with a Pelagosa clasp to conform with the only man of this name on the medal rolls.