Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 3 clasps, 28 June Boat Service 1810, Lissa, Pelagosa 29 Novr. 1811 (Richd. Bowen, Midshipman.) minor edge bruising, otherwise good very fine £7,000-£9,000

Provenance: Bought Spink 1974.

Confirmed on the rolls as a Midshipman aboard H.M.S. Active at all three actions. Five medals issued with this combination of clasps. Approximately 25 clasps issued for ‘28 June Boat Service 1810’; 124 for ‘Lissa’; and 64 for ‘Pelagosa 29 Novr. 1811’.

Richard Bowen entered the Navy in June 1806, as an Able Seaman on board the Glatton 50, Captains Thomas Seccombe, Henry Hope, and George Miller Bligh, employed in the Mediterranean, on which station he removed, as Midshipman, in Sept. 1809, to the Active, of 46 guns, Captain James Alexander Gordon. While belonging to that frigate he took part, 13 March 1811, in the brilliant action off Lissa, where a British squadron, carrying in the whole 156 guns and 879 men, completely routed, after a conflict of six hours, and a loss to the Active of 4 killed and 24 wounded, a Franco-Venetian armament, whose force amounted to 284 guns and 2655 men; and on 29 November in the same year he further shared in a hard-fought action of an hour and 40 minutes which, in rendering the Active captor of La Pomone, of 44 guns and 332 men, occasioned her a loss of 8 killed and 27 wounded.

From June to November 1812, Mr. Bowen next served in the Namur 74, Captain Charles John Austen, and Seahorse 38, commanded by Captain Gordon. He then joined the Sceptre and Albion 74’s, bearing each the flag of Rear-Admiral George Cockburn, and was for 20 months very actively employed on the coast of North America. After acting for nearly five months as Lieutenant of the Ruby 64, Captain Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, Mr. Bowen was confirmed to that ship by commission dated 13 April 1815. He returned home from Bermuda on board the Buffalo in March, 1816, and has not since been afloat. In July 1851, his name was placed on the reserved list.