Orders, Decorations and Medals

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Talavera, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees (Hugh Owen, Subn. 16th Lt. Dgns. & Brigade Major & A.D.C.) some contact wear, otherwise good very fine £800-1000

Hugh Owen was appointed Cornet in the 16th Light Dragoons on 31 July 1806, and Lieutenant, 9 July 1807. He served as Aide de Camp to Sir Benjamin D’Urban and Brigade Major to Sir Loftus Otway who commanded the three regiments of Portuguese Cavalry at the battle of Albuhera. He was promoted to Captain in the 18th Hussars by Lord Wellington after the battle of Vittoria and given command of one of the two troops which were vacant by two Captains killed in the battle. The other troop was given to Lieutenant Luard of the 4th Dragoons. It is believed that these two vacancies in the 18th Hussars were filled by officers from other regiments at the insistence of Wellington as a punishment for looting carried out by the 18th after the battle.

A lengthy letter, originally published in pamphlet form, by Hugh Owen is reproduced in Diary of a Cavalry Officer. Although intended primarily as a tribute to his close friend, Major the Hon Charles Somers Cocks, killed at Burgos in 1812, it gives some interesting anecdotes and insights into his Peninsula service.