Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

Pair: Brigadier-Surgeon J. Paxton, Army Medical Department

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Canada General Service 1866-70, 1 clasp, Fenian Raid 1866 (A./Surg., M.D., 30/Regt.), good very fine and better and a rare combination of awards (2) £400-500

James Paxton, who was born at Stonehaven, Scotland in January 1836, was in the midst of his studies as a medical student at Edinburgh University when he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy in the Baltic, and subsequently joined H.M.S. Pylades as a Hospital Dresser. He duly served in that theatre of war from April to November 1855 and was awarded the Medal.

Returning to Edinburgh University to resume his studies, he qualified as an M.D. in 1857, and was appointed a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In April of the following year, he joined the Army Medical Department as an Assistant Surgeon, and in October 1864 he joined the strength of the 30th Foot, with which regiment he served in Montreal, Canada during the Fenian troubles of 1866.

Paxton, who was advanced to Surgeon-Major in April 1873, and to Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel in April 1878, witnessed no further active service, and was finally placed on the Retired List in the equivalent rank of Brigadier in June 1888. He died in 1917.