Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Private Thomas Roff, 15th Hussars

Military General Service 1793-1814, 3 clasps, Vittoria, Orthes, Toulouse (Thomas Roff, 15th Hussars); Waterloo 1815 (Thomas Roff, 15th or King’s Reg. Hussars) fitted with ornate scroll suspension, edge bruising and light contact marks, otherwise very fine (2) £3000-3500

Thomas Roff was born at Kingsclere, Hampshire, and enlisted for the 15th Hussars at Winton, Hampshire, on 2 February 1805 (service to count from 25 December 1804). He served in the Peninsula, at Corunna and in the campaigns of 1813 & 14, and was present at the battle of Waterloo. He was stationed at Manchester in 1819 at the time of the Peterloo Massacre on 16 August, when the 15th Hussars together with the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry charged a rally of some 60,000 protesters, resulting in ‘11 deaths and over 500 severe injuries’. Roff was discharged at Dublin on 13 May 1827, in consequence of length of service and being worn out.

The following letter appeared in the Times, 21 May 1864, under the heading ‘A Veteran’:

Sir, I am on the point of leaving my neighbourhood, but before doing so I should feel obliged if you lay before your readers the case of a poor neighbour.

Thomas Roff, aged 85, enlisted in 1805 in the 15th Hussars, landed in Lisbon with his regiment in 1812, served in the campaigns of 1813-14-15, fought at Vittoria, where he was wounded, at Orthes, the Pyrenees, where he was again wounded, at Toulouse, and finally at Waterloo, I think, under Sir Calhoun Grant. After 24 years’ service he was discharged with the following certificate from his colonel, Sir Joseph Thackwell:- “Worn out, unfit for service; conduct extremely good.” I have seen this certificate.

Roff has since worked as a farm labourer up to the age of 80. He has been receiving 1s. per day out-pension. His wife, aged 70, has been a helpless cripple for years, and he has never received a shilling of parish relief. It is pleasant to see him on Sundays at his parish church, with his breast covered with medals. It is sad to visit him in his cottage, and see the squalid poverty in which he lives. His memory is quite extraordinary; he is able to relate the smallest incidents which happened to his regiment, and on referring to Napier’s History he is invariably correct. I trust that this statement may induce some of your readers to make the closing days of this deserving veteran more comfortable.

The Rev. E. Bulkley, incumbent of the district church at Kingsclere Woodlands, near Reading, has kindly consented to receive any subscriptions on Roff’s behalf.’

A subsequent letter from the Rev. Bulkley published on 11 June, thanked readers for the generous donations which amounted to a total of 33 pounds 15 shillings and 6 pence.

Sold with copied discharge papers, muster details and a paperback copy of The Peterloo Massacre, by Joyce Marlow.