Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An extremely fine Peninsular War pair awarded to Major-General Sir Charles Greville, K.C.B., 38th Regiment and latterly Colonel of the 98th Regiment, a gallant Brigade Commander who twice had his horse shot from under him

Army Gold Cross 1806-14, for Roleia & Vimiera, Corunna, Vittoria and Salamanca, 2 clasps, St. Sebastian, Nive (Colonel The Honble. Chas. Greville), complete with original gold swivel-ring suspension, riband buckle and neck riband fitments; Field Officer’s Small Army Gold Medal 1808-14, for Roleia, Vimiera & Corunna 1808-9, 2 clasps, Corunna, Salamanca (Lieut. Col. Honble. Chas. Greville, 38th Foot), complete with original gold riband buckle, in its red leather case of issue, extremely fine (2) £25,000-30000

Major-General The Hon. Sir Charles Greville, a scion of one of the great families of England, the Grevilles of Warwick Castle, was born circa 1780-81. He was the second son of George, 2nd Earl of Warwick, and his second wife Henrietta, daughter of Richard Vernon, of Hilton, Co. Stafford, and as such was the nephew of his namesake, ‘who distinguished himself only by his not over-gallant associations with Emma Hart, better known to posterity as the beautiful Lady Hamilton’.

Young Charles entered the Army at about 16 years of age as an Ensign in the 10th Foot (Lincolns) in July 1796, and became Lieutenant by purchase in 1797. In August of the following year he accompanied the Regiment to Madras, then threatened by Napoleon’s conquests in Egypt, but arrived too late to share in the lucrative campaign against Tippoo Sultan. Sometime after August 1799, when the 10th were ordered to the Bengal Presidency as part of its defensive force, Greville obtained extra regimental employ in Calcutta as an A.D.C. on the Staff of the Governor-General of India, the newly created Marquess Wellesley, who at this time was putting into practice his extravagant plans for Government House and was active with his Staff in creating much of the formal procedure out of which later grew the traditional etiquette of the Viceregal Court.

Promoted Captain in the 10th Foot in December 1799, Greville volunteered in 1800 for an intended expedition to capture the French base of the Isle de France (Mauritius), having made by this time a favourable impression upon his chief, who, in a letter dated ‘Fort William, 1st Decr., 1800’, recommended him to his younger brother, the future Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington. ‘My Dear Arthur,’ wrote the Governor-General, ‘I enclose a list of the Officers proceeding from hence with the 10th Regiment and Native volunteers … Captain Greville of the 10th (son to Lord Warwick) has been my Aide-de-Camp for sometime and is a very good young man; he is also a volunteer’. On the advent of the expedition to Egypt in 1801, Greville rejoined his regiment and on landing at Kossier on the Red Sea on 15 June, participated in the gruelling Desert March to Cairo under Major-General David Baird. Along with brother Officers of the 10th Foot, he was a recipient of the Sultan’s Medal for Egypt, ‘worn with a dark orange-coloured ribbon’.

Greville quit Egypt in 1802 just ahead of a devastating plague, and returned to England to purchase his Majority in the 38th Foot (South Staffordshires), his official date of appointment being 13 April 1803. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in the 38th in March 1805, and took command of the regiment on its return from South America, in succession to Colonel Vassall who had been killed in action at Monte Video. In July 1808 the 1st Battalion, 38th Foot, under Greville’s command and at a strength of 47 officers and 1,032 N.C.Os and men. sailed from Cork for service in Portugal as part of Sir Arthur Wellesley’s 10,000-strong Expeditionary Force. Landing at Mondego Bay on 1 August 1808, the 38th Regiment was placed in the 1st Brigade under Major-General Rowland Hill, and fought under Greville’s command at the Battle of Roleia, the first British victory gained in the Peninsula. Two days later, and 40 miles on, Greville led his regiment in the crushing defeat of Marshal Junot at Vimiera.

Following Wellesley’s recall to England, and the arrival in Spain of a French Army of 200,000 intent on driving ‘the English leopard into the sea’, Greville and the 38th remained in the Peninsula under Sir John Moore and duly endured the rigours of the retreat to Corunna, being present in Fane’s Brigade, 3rd Division, at the battle of Corunna on 16 January 1809, prior to evacuation in Transports to England. An interesting footnote to the Corunna Campaign appears in the History of the 38th Regiment:

‘The Fleet of Transports whilst on their way home were overtaken by a terrible storm and were scattered, many ships being wrecked, and the remainder, driving up the Channel, landed soldiers at any port along the coast from Plymouth to Dover, so that thousands of men, in a state of wretchedness were thrown upon the shores of the country horrifying the people by their ragged squalor and dirt. The Officers were in no better condition and Captain T. Willshire of the 38th landed at Portsmouth without a shirt to his back, his chief covering being a long mantle lined with tiger skin …’

In July 1809 Greville, having reassembled his Battalion, led it in the ill-managed Walcheren Expedition, landing at South Beveland with the Black Watch and 9th Foot and taking part in the investment of Flushing, which fell after two days bombardment – the sole success of the foray. Having refitted and reformed in Ireland, Greville and the 1/38th at 1,100-strong rejoined Wellington in the Peninsula in June 1812, with Captain Willshire, of tiger skin fame, commanding a Grenadier Company of men of six feet or over. They landed at Lisbon on the 15th and joined Wellington’s Allied Army at Salamanca on the morning of the battle, where they were brigaded with 3rd Royal Scots, 1/9th, 2/38th and one company Brunswick Oels. Owing to the absence of Major-General Andrew Hay on leave, Greville was obliged to take command of the Brigade, which with Pringle’s Brigade, and Spry’s Portuguese, made up Lieutenant-General James Leith’s 5th Division. Having endured a prolonged period under fire from French Artillery, the 5th Division to its great relief was ordered to its feet at about 4.30 in the afternoon, its task to smash the French centre in the shape of Maucune’s Division above the village of Los Arapiles:

‘The men of the 5th Division began filing through the narrow streets of the village, and to its right in two long lines. The first line consisted of Greville’s Brigade, the 3/1st, 1/9th, 1/38th and 2/38th, as well as the 1/4th from Pringle’s Brigade. The second line was made up to the rest of Pringle’s Brigade … along with Spry’s Portuguese Brigade. As the long lines of Allied Infantry set out towards the French positions on the crest above the village, Wellington himself rode between them before retiring to leave the task to Leith. The advance of Leith’s 5th Division must have been impressive as it was relentless, the men striding forward in the face of a heavy enemy fire from both French skirmishers and Artillery … Maucune pulled his men back to a position on the reverse slope of the crest, as if aping Wellington’s own favoured strategy … The French Infantry squares waited some 50 yards behind the crest, anxious fingers twitching on triggers, while all the time the sound of Leith’s relentless advance carried from the other side of the ridge. At last the Allied Infantry came into sight over the ridge and then, at the word of command, the French let loose a single volley followed, a moment later, by a volley from Leith’s men. The crash was tremendous. One of the first to come reeling back through the smoke was Greville, commanding the leading Brigade; his horse had been shot through the head, and its body fell pinning its rider to the ground. Leith himself was badly wounded, while scores of men on both sides fell amid the storm of musketry. In spite of initial French resistance, the contest was quickly decided by the bayonet wielding British Infantry who, with a wild cheer lowered their steel and rushed at their adversaries who dissolved into a panic-stricken mass of fleeing men’.

The day ended with 143 killed and wounded in the 1/38th alone, and with a crushing victory for Wellington which cost the French 7,000 killed and wounded, 7,000 taken prisoner, 10 guns and two Eagles lost.

Promoted Colonel in the Army in June 1813, Greville was next present on 21 June 1813 at the Battle of Vittoria where again ‘his horse was shot under him’, though casualties to the 1/38th were generally light. However:

‘They were not so fortunate a month or so later, when they took part in the attack and capture of San Sebastian, a fortress of great strength … Still in the 5th Division [Major-General Hay] they formed part of the left attack, and on 24 July, led by Colonel C. Greville, they were ordered to assault the lesser and more distant breach which had been made in the defences … The storming Columns moved out on the dark morning of July 25, and, aided by the explosion of a mine, were enabled to reach the enemy’s works, but owing to lack of support were forced to retire … Here great casualties were incurred. The siege was converted into blockade, and with the advent of new heavy battering trains from England the siege was continued. A fresh attack was made by volunteers from 14 regiments, including the 38th, under Colonel Greville, and although they carried some of the traverses their efforts to hold it were in vain … A fresh bombardment of the walls was made, and then a number of powder barrels was exploded under the walls. Under cover of this confusion and smoke the British again attacked, and after severe fighting for five hours the town was won. In the final assault, the 38th led by their Colonel, Sir Charles Greville, after desperate fighting, were the second regiment to enter the breach in the fortress. Their casualties in this fight were nine Officers killed and 12 wounded, 33 N.C.Os and men killed and 174 wounded’.

No doubt as a consequence of the outrage over the rape and pillage committed by British troops at Badajoz a year earlier, Greville was called upon after the assault to respond to the accusation that troops under his command had participated in similar depredations, a charge that he vigorously denied – ‘In compliance with your [General Hay’s] desire that I should enter into a statement of the circumstances touching the injury sustained from the troops in the assault of San Sebastian, which appears with much injustice to have been attributed to the inhabitants of intentional malice and a premeditated revenge of the troops on the inhabitants, I think it necessary to assure you that the sentiment is a unfounded as it is illiberal …’ Notwithstanding this rebuttal, an Assistant Provost Marshal reported to Hay that he had flogged no less than 60 men ‘found plundering or committing excesses’ in the first 48 hours.

On 7 October 1813, Greville commanded the 1st Brigade, 5th Division, at the forcing of the passage of the Lower Bidassoa, which with the 1st Division, spearheaded Wellington’s invasion of France. He was duly favourably “mentioned” in Hay’s despatch to Lieutenant-General Sir J. Hope, enclosed with which was Greville’s own account of the affair (see Wellington’s Despatches, Volume VIII, pp. 303-305) in which he acknowledged Willshire in leading in the Light Companies of the Brigade, as the first man to cross the river. In France, Greville was present in the five days’ battle of the Nive as a Brigade Commander, where the 38th were first hotly engaged in drawing the Tirrailleurs during the advance of the Army.

On Napoleon’s escape from Elba, Greville was ordered with his Brigade forthwith from Ireland to the Netherlands but arrived too late to take part in the Waterloo Campaign and consequently formed part of the Army of Occupation of Paris, where, employing Willshire as his Brigade-Major, he introduced him to the Duke of Wellington and recommended him for promotion which he duly received.

Advanced to Major-General in August 1819, Greville retained his Regimental Commission in the 38th Foot until February 1832 when he was appointed Colonel of the 98th Regiment (later 2nd North Staffordshires). He subsequently entered Parliament, and, enjoying the political patronage of his brother Henry, 3rd Earl of Warwick, represented the town of Warwick in the House of Commons. Through patrician family connections he no doubt remained close to the Iron Duke’s circle, his young kinsman, Algernon Greville, who fought at Waterloo with the Guards, being for many years the great man’s private secretary.

In 1836 The Times reported, ‘Sir C. Greville, it is stated, is dangerously ill, in consequence of a cold caught passing through the tunnel at Liverpool’. He nevertheless rallied to enjoy victory at the annual autumn meeting of Warwick Races the same year, but finally succumbed a month or two later, dying at his town house, No.1 Hill Street, Mayfair, on 16 December 1836, whence he was laid to rest, as reported in The Times on 22 December 1836:

‘The remains of the late Sir Charles Greville were deposited in the family vault at Warwick. The corpse left town on Monday; and on Tuesday, on its passing through Weedon, the General’s Regiment, the 38th, stationed there joined in the procession, and marched with it for some distance, playing with muffled drums the airs usual on such occasions, previous to falling back and firing three volleys over the remains of the Gallant Commander. The chief mourners were the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Aylesford, and the Earl of Clonmel (brother-in-laws of the deceased), who followed the hearse on its entrance into Warwick, escorted by the usual attendants. At the particular request of the deceased the funeral was conducted in an unostentatious a manner as possible. Had this not been the case, the string of private carriages that would have followed would have been great … The attendance on the part of the inhabitants of Warwick was exceedingly numerous; the shops in the town were closed; and on no occasion could a more sincere demonstration of public regret have been displayed. The coffin was placed in the catacomb immediately under that of the father of the deceased’.