Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 11 clasps, Vimiera, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes D’Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Toulouse (James Oddy, 43rd Foot), minor edge bruising, otherwise good very fine £5,000-6,000

Only one officer and 19 men of the 43rd received the clasp for Talavera where they served in the 1st Battalion Detachments. Six 11-clasp medals to the 43rd, this being an unique combination.

James Oddy, a native of North Yorkshire, entered the ranks of the 43rd Foot direct from the Militia in January 1808 and embarked for Portugal with the 2nd Battalion that September. He appears to have been wounded at Vimiera, after which he ‘joined the 1st Battalion detachments’. According to his entry in the Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Registers, he also served in Canada. Oddy died at Birstall on 17 August 1850, aged 60 years, and was buried in St. Peter’s Church; his wife, Mary, died in December of the same year; sold with medal roll verification and related muster details.