Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Waterloo 1815 (Jos. Heyes, 2nd Batt. Coldstream Gds.) fitted with replacement steel clip and ring suspension, edge bruising and contact wear, otherwise better than good fine £3600-4000

Joshua Heyes was born at Middleton, near Manchester, Lancaster, and enlisted for the Coldstream Guards at Gorton, near Stockport, on 15 August 1811, aged 26, a weaver by trade. He was promoted to Corporal on 11 May 1812, and to Sergeant on 22 April 1814, but was reduced to Private on 15 June 1815, the day before the battle of Quatre Bras. He served in the Netherlands and France four years and was present at the battle of Waterloo, where he was a Hougoumont defender, serving in the Light Company commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Wyndham. Wyndham was one of the main characters who played a part in perhaps the most famous incident during the fighting at Hougoumont, namely, the closing of the gates, upon which, Wellington later acknowledged, ‘rested the outcome of the day.’ Joshua Heyes was discharged on 8 December 1830, aged 45 years, being granted a modified pension. Sold with comprehensive research including copied discharge papers and various Company rolls which confirm Heyes in Wyndham’s Light Company and showing him as a ‘Waterloo man’.