Orders, Decorations and Medals

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Northumberland 22 May 1812 (W. L. Stephens, Midshipman) with original ribbon, minor edge bruises, otherwise extremely fine £2500-3000

See Colour Plate IV

Confirmed on the roll as Midshipman aboard the Northumberland. Approximately 62 clasps issued for this action.

William Lukis Stephens entered the navy in February 1803, as First Class Volunteer on board the Defiance. He was present during the assistance given to the patriots on the north coast of Spain, and took part in the action under the batteries of Sable d’Olonne on the coast of France on 24 February, 1809, when the Squadron under Rear Admiral Stopford destroyed three French frigates with the loss of two men killed and 25 wounded. He joined the Northumberland as Midshipman in 1810 and was present in company with the Growler in the action with and subsequent destruction of two French frigates L’Arienne and L’Andromaque, and the brig Mamelouk, off the Isle of Groix, on 22 May 1812. The Northumberland, which bore the brunt of the action, had five men killed, and a Lieutenant and twenty-seven men wounded. The Growler, meanwhile, escaped without loss or damage. From February 1813 until September 1817, Stephens was employed on the coast of North America in the Lacedaemonian and Niger frigates, and in them saw much boat-service; in May 1818, he joined the Topaze on the East India station where he was wounded in an affair at Mocha. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1821 and returned to England in the following year, after which he served in the West Indies and Mediterranean in the Jasper, from 1824 to 1827, and from June 1833 was in command of a station in the Coast Guard.