Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. Alex. Macpherson, 2nd Batt. 59th Reg. Foot) fitted with steel clip and ring suspension, minor contact marks, otherwise good very fine £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late John Darwent.

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Ex Charles Dalton collection, author of The Waterloo Roll Call, and in the Whitaker collection from 1908.

Alexander Macpherson was commissioned into the 59th Foot as an Ensign on 24 August 1808, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 21 December 1809. He served with No. 6 Company at Waterloo where the 59th formed part of Colville’s reserve division. Dalton’s Waterloo Roll Call lists Macpherson as being one of only three Waterloo officers of the 59th Foot to survive the wreck of the Seahorse transport, nine Waterloo officers of the regiment being amongst those drowned.

On 24 January 1816, the 2nd Battalion 59th Foot embarked at Ramsgate on two transports. Headquarters and five companies boarded the ship Seahorse together with 33 women and 38 children, exclusive of the ship’s crew making a total of 374 persons. The remainder of the battalion, 317 strong, boarded the Lord Melville together with a detachment of the 2nd Battalion 62nd Foot. A third ship, Boadicea, joined with a detachment of soldiers from the 82nd Foot on board and in convoy the three vessels sailed down the channel, bound for Cork.

On 29 January 1816, while the convoy was rounding Cornwall, a strong breeze sprang up which freshened into a gale. During the night, in tremendous seas, they weathered the storm, now off the coast of Kinsale. On the following day, a flood tide and heavy seas drove the Seahorse towards the shore. A top-mast went over the side. Sail was reduced and the ship anchored but in spite of these precautions the vessel drove ashore. At ten minutes past noon on 30 January, the Seahorse struck, about a mile out in Tramore Bay. Numerous spectators had gathered upon the shore but were prevented from assisting by the enormous waves.

Violently pounded by the waves, after a short time the ship broke up, depositing the soldiers, their wives and children together with the ship’s crew into the sea. With the exception of Captain Gibbs, the ship’s master, four regimental officers, and 26 soldiers and seamen, all were drowned.

The Boadicea fared no better. She also foundered in the gale, breaking up, with almost a total loss of those on board, while the Lord Melville, blown hard aground, weathered the storm. The crew and military personnel were rescued on the following day.

The issues of The Times for the 6th, 7th, and 8th February 1816 quote the bald facts of these tragic events and list the names of the four officers of the 59th who were saved from the Seahorse wreck. They were listed as Lieutenant Cooper (Cowper), Lieutenant Harford (Hartford), Lieutenant M’Pherson (Macpherson), and Ensign Seward. Macpherson was apparently saved by a gallant Irish peasant named Kirwan, who with total disregard for his own life, ran into the wild, foaming breakers and plucked the exhausted officer from the sea.

Lieutenant Alexander Macpherson died whilst on detachment in the Isle of France on 11 May 1819. Sold with detailed research including draft copies of John Darwent’s article Those Confusing Macphersons, published in the O.M.R.S. Journal of Autumn 1989.