Auction Catalogue

28 February & 1 March 2018

Starting at 11:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 101

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28 February 2018

Hammer Price:
£7,500

Three: Troop Sergeant Major William Dawn, 8th Hussars, who charged with the Light Brigade at Balaklava

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, unnamed as issued; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Tp. Sgt. Major Wm. Dawn, 8th Hussars); Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue, unnamed, pierced with rings for suspension, light contact marks, otherwise very fine (3) £4000-5000

William Dawn is recognised as a confirmed charger in all published works. He embarked with the 8th Hussars for the East in the Mary Anne on 19 April 1854, and is listed with the service troops for the entire period 1 January 1854 to 1 January 1856. He was admitted to Scutari Hospital from 12 December 1854 to 25 February 1855, and was a member of General Simpson’s staff later in that year. He served with the 8th Hussars during the Indian Mutiny of 1857-59 and was discharged in India in 1860.

Dawn is shown as a member of the Balaklava Commemoration Society in the lists of 1877 and 1879. He is listed as Sergeant-Major in the group photograph taken at Olympia on 2 July 1890, along with 35 other chargers. He was a Pensioner of the T. H. Roberts Fund who paid for his burial, and he also claimed £15 on 22 August 1890 from the Light Brigade Relief Fund, aged 61 when he was living at 3 Raverley Street, Bromley-by-Bow, London. Sergeant-Major Dawn died on 23 September 1904.