Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (T.S.M. Archd. Wood, Rl. Scots Greys.) contemporarily engraved naming, edge bruise, good very fine £800-£1,200

Provenance: Christie’s, July 1989.

Archibald Wood attested for the 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys) at Longford, Ireland, in 1849, and was promoted Corporal in 1853, and Sergeant in 1854. He served with the 2nd Dragoons as part of the Heavy Brigade in the Crimea, and was present at the Battles of Balaclava and Inkermann, the latter whilst serving on Lord Lucan’s Staff, and the actions before Sebastopol, and was advanced Troop Sergeant Major in 1855. He was discharged in June 1861.

Wood’s name appears on the latest reconstructed list of ‘Chargers’ as having ‘probably rode in the Charge’: most members of the Heavy Brigade entitled to the Balaklava clasp, in the absence of any evidence or status details to the contrary, took part in the Charge, and it is only the absence of some definite proof that means Wood is listed as a probable ‘Charger’, rather then a definite ‘Charger’.