Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military), Chapel Stall Plate, brass, with contemporary fire-gilt and cold enamel, ‘Thomas Bligh St. George, Esquire, Colonel in the Army and Inspecting Field Officer of Militia in Canada, Companion of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Nominated 4th June 1815’, good condition £300-400

Thomas Bligh St. George, who was born about 1768, originally purchased an Ensigncy in the 27th Foot, but reverted to half-pay until transferring to the 11th Foot in 1783. Posted to Gibraltar, he was among those present at the relief of the garrison after the famous siege of 1778-83. Purchasing a Lieutenancy in the same regiment in 1790, St. George next witnessed active service under Lord Hood in the expedition against Toulon in late 1793, and subsequently in the expedition to Corsica in the following year, where he was present at the taking of Farenga, Bastia and Calori.

Probaly as a result of having met Colonel Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) in the Toulon operations, St. George purchased a Captaincy and company command in the former’s newly raised 90th Perthshire Volunteers in 1794, the first regiment to be specifically trained as a light infantry force. But following brief employ in a brace of expeditions against the west coast of France in the following year, his time was largely taken up with staff appointments back in England or in Portugal. But then came the Egypt operations under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, in which he shared in many of the 90th’s moments of glory, including the advance on Cairo and the siege of Alexandria - quite probably as a result of these services, St. George was given the Brevet of Major in 1803.

In 1805, he purchased a Lieutenant-Colonelcy in the 63rd Foot, but his expertise in light infantry tactics appears to have led to further staff appointments back in England, or at least until 1809, when he embarked for Canada, arriving at Quebec in July of that year. Over the next two or three years, in his capacity as Inspecting Field Officer of Militia in Canada, he carried out much valuable training work, an effort that paid dividends following the American invasion of Canada in 1812 - St. George and his men repulsed a 2300-strong enemy attack against Fort Amherstburg, Detroit, the former winning in the process a Small Gold Medal. Further rewarded with a C.B. in June 1815, St. George was subsequently knighted and died in 1836.