Orders, Decorations and Medals

China 1842 (T. G. Drake, Lieut. H.M.S. Cornwallis) better than very fine £400-450

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals Formed by The Late John Cooper.

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Thomas George Drake was born on 2 April 1816, second son of Colonel Thomas Drake, for many years Deputy Quarter-Master General in the Ionian Islands. He entered the Royal Naval College in the summer of 1829. He served on the Mediterranean and South American stations until July 1837, and in October of that year was appointed to the Hyacinth. In December 1838 he was sent in command of the Hyacinth’s pinnace and cutter, and of three gun-boats belonging to the Indian navy, to blockade the port of Quedah, where he continued for four months, after which, owing to continual exposure in an open boat, his health had become much impaired. He was then ordered to China, where he took an active part in all the hostilities of which that country became the seat. He assisted in a very gallant attack made by the Volage, Hyacinth and other vessels on the Chinese position near Macao in August 1841; was present at the storming of Chuenpee, 7 January 1841; served in the boats at the capture of several rafts and of the last fort protecting the approaches to the city of Canton, 13 March 1841 (Gazette 1841, p. 1503), and at the capture of that city on the 18th of the same month (Gazette 1841, p. 1505). In the second series of hostilities against Canton he was engaged in the boats of the Cruizer at the destruction, on 26 May, of the whole line of defences extending about two miles from the British factory (Gazette 1841, p. 2505).

In July 1841, Drake was promoted by Sir Gordon Bremer to a Lieutenancy in Cruizer, and was subsequently present at the storming of the batteries and defences of Amoy, the recapture of Chusan, and the assault on the fortified heights and citadel of Chinghae. Being next appointed, on 22 January 1842, to the Cornwallis, flagship of Sir William Parker, he further witnessed the defeat of the enemy at Chapoo, Woosung, and Chin-Kiang-Foo, and was present at the pacification of Nankin. He returned to England, an invalid, in March 1843, and was promoted Commander in January 1846. Ill health compelled him to resign command of the Conflict in December 1851, after having served two years in her on the coasts of Portugal and Brazil.