Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Colonel A. M. Cardew, 19th and 9th Foot, who was severely wounded at the Battle of the Alma, 20 September 1854

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Alma (Lt. & Adjt. A. M. Cardew, 19th Foot) officially impressed naming, the naming touched-up in parts; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue (Capt. Cardew 9th [sic] Foot.) re-engraved naming, fitted with an IGS-style suspension, mounted as worn and housed in a fitted leather case together with the related miniature awards, the inside silk cover embossed ‘Colonel A. W. Cardew’, contact marks and edge bruising, nearly very fine (2) £800-£1,200

Ambrose Marshall Cardew was born at Dum Dum, Bengal, on 17 April 1836, the son of Ambrose Cardew, Bengal Artillery, and attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned Ensign in the 19th Regiment of Foot on 1 July 1853, he was appointed Adjutant on 17 March 1854, and served with the Regiment in the Crimea, first landing at Varna, Bulgaria, on 30 May 1854, and then in the Crimea on 14 September. He was severely wounded at the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854, and was evacuated to hospital at Scutari on 28 September, and thence back to England.

Charles Isherwood’s Service Journal states: ‘Just prior to receiving the order to make haste for cover under the wall, several round shots passed through the ranks of the 19th Foot, two of these passing through my own company, one of which grazed my pouch as I turned to avoid it and striking the hind leg of Cardew’s horse immediately in rear of myself wounding it severely... Of the wounded... Ensign and Adjutant Cardew not only received a ball in the leg but another also in the neck which passed and lodged near his eye, his horse also being shot.’

An unknown source takes up the story: ‘Cardew’s horse was struck twice, the second time as he crossed the Alma. He continued on foot, under heavy fire. He was shot in the leg but limped on, supported by a Sergeant, until another shot hit him below the right ear and lodged in his jaw. Cardew had the bullet removed on the battlefield by Surgeon Longmore and was taken to the hospital at Scutari. He kept the bullet and later had it engraved “Alma” as a souvenir.’

Having recovered from this wounded, Cardew joined the Provisional Battalion at Malta and then re-joined his Regiment in the Crimea on 9 March 1856. Promoted Captain on 27 June 1856, he was placed on half-pay on 10 November of that year, before transferring as Captain to the 9th Regiment of Foot on 23 October 1857. He served as Adjutant of the 11th Depot Battalion from October 1868 to 16 June 1870, when he was again placed on half-pay. Appointed Staff Officer of Pensioners on 1 October 1870, he was promoted Brevet Major on 24 October 1872, and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 31 December 1878. He was advanced Colonel on 31 December 1883 and retired on 17 April 1893. He died in Falmouth, Cornwall, on 4 March 1895

Sold together with a 19th Regiment Officer’s Shoulder Belt Plate; a fine water-colour portrait of the recipient, painted at a later date from an earlier likeness, dated 1893, and mounted in a glazed gilt frame, one small hole to centre of portrait; a studio photograph of the recipient in later life; and copied research, including a photographic image of the recipient wearing his medals.