Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Martinique (John Pumphries, 90th Foot) good very fine £1,000-£1,200

Provenance: Spink, March 1983.

John Pumphries (also Pumphrey/Pumphreys) was born in the Parish of Kilbride, county Lanarkshire, in about 1782, and enlisted into the 2nd Battalion, 90th Foot, on 6 January 1807, from a garrison battalion in which he had served for one year, then aged 25, a weaver by trade. In June 1808 he transferred to the 1st Battalion and joined the service companies in the West Indies at St Vincent. In January and February 1809, he served with the regiment at the capture of the Island of Martinique. He remained in the West Indies until March 1814 when he proceeded to Canada, where the regiment was stationed at Kingston, Queenstown and Fort Niagara. He returned home with the regiment in June 1815 and joined the Army of Occupation at Paris. On 24 December 1815, he transferred back to the 2nd Battalion in Armagh and Cork, and was discharged at Cashel to a Kilmainham Hospital out-pension on 29 May 1816, in consequence of impaired sight. Sold with copied discharge papers, pension register entry and muster details.