Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Orthes, Toulouse (Smith Fife, 42nd Foot) very fine £1600-2000

Smith Fife/Fyfe was enlisted as a boy from the Inverness district on 25 August 1812, and was posted to the 2nd Battalion. He transferred to the 1st Battalion on 30 November 1813 for service in France. He served in Captain Donald Chisholm’s company in the Waterloo campaign and was taken prisoner at Quatre Bras, as related by Sergeant James Anton in his Retrospect of a Military Life:

‘The day’s contest was at a close, our attention was directed to the casualties which had occurred in our ranks. We had lost, in killed, one colonel, one Lieutenant, one ensign, one sergeant-major, two sergeants, and forty-eight rank-and-file. One brevet lieutenant-colonel, five captains, five lieutenants, two ensigns, fourteen sergeants, one drummer, and two hundred and fourteen rank-and-file composed our list of wounded. Six privates fell into the enemy’s hands; among these was a little lad (Smith Fyfe) about five feet high. The French general, on seeing this diminutive looking lad, is said to have lifted him up by the collar or breech and exclaimed to the soldiers who were near him, “Behold the sample of the men of whom you are afraid!” This lad returned a few days afterwards, dressed in the clothing of a French grenadier, and was saluted by the name of Napoleon, which he retained until he was discharged.’

Smith Fife was discharged at Strabane on 24 March 1818. Sold with copied pay-lists and medal roll.