Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Captain Anthony Pack, 71st Foot, severely wounded in the Pyrenees and later Aide-de-Camp to his uncle, Major-General Sir Denis Pack

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Vittoria, Pyrenees (A. Pack, Lieut. 71st Foot) good very fine £2000-2500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Napoleonic War Medals.

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Provenance: Christie’s July 1987.


Anthony Pierce Pack was born at Kilkenny, Ireland, on 21 August 1794, and was appointed an Ensign in the 71st Foot, without purchase, on 12 December 1811, becoming Lieutenant on 3 June 1813. He served in the Peninsula from February to November 1813, taking part in the battle of Vittoria and those in the Pyrenees, including the action at Puerto de Maya on 25 July, when he was ‘severely wounded in command of a company in defending a particular rock in front of the British position’. His conduct was ‘approved of by Lt. Col. Cother then in command of 71st Regiment’, and he received one year’s pay as a Captain.

He served in France, May 1815 to December 1818, and then served as Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Sir Denis Pack, K.C.B., from 1819 until the Major-General’s death on 26 July 1823. Pack had been appointed Lieutenant in the 55th Foot in March 1820 and exchanged into the 84th Foot in December 1821, becoming Captain, by purchase, in May 1826. He served in Jamaica from December 1826 to December 1829, and retired from the service on 26 February 1836. He is believed to have died in the year 1857.