Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

China 1857-60, 2 clasps, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860 (Lt. Col. J. R. S. Sayer, 1st. Drgn. Gds.) officially impressed naming, edge bruising, possibly caused by the medal having been held in a circular mount, otherwise very fine £400-£500

K.C.B. London Gazette 29 June 1906.

C.B. London Gazette 1 March 1861.

James Robert Steadman Sayer was born at Sibton, Suffolk, in 1826, the eldest son of Robert Sayer, High Sheriff of Suffolk, and was commissioned Cornet in the 1st Dragoon Guards on 23 May 1845. Promoted Lieutenant by purchase on 31 March 1848, and Captain on 22 November 1850, he embarked aboard Himalaya at Liverpool in May 1855 for service in the Crimea, and was present at the Battle of Tchernaya and the Siege of Sebastopol (clasp).

Promoted Major on 6 February 1857 and Lieutenant-Colonel on 21 October 1859, Sayer commanded the Regiment in China throughout the campaign of 1860, including the action of Sinho and the surrender of Pekin. On 20 September, the King's Dragoon Guards made a daring and successful charge against Tartars in entrenched positions along a bank of the Pei-Ho River, a manoeuvre deemed impossible for cavalry to achieve. For this action Sayer was Mentioned in Despatches, Sidney Herbert writing to Queen Victoria:
‘The charge of the King's Dragoon Guards was an act of horsemanship most remarkable. The Tartars were posted on an elevated mound with a deep ditch in front, and the Horse had not only to clear the ditch, but also to lead up the height at the same time. Only one man was unhorsed. The Sikh cavalry tried to do it, but upwards of 30 saddles were immediately empty. On looking at this and another obstacle with a deep drop, which the King’s Dragoon Guards passed, he [General Sir Hope Grant] says it is impossible to conceive how cavalry could do it.’

Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 1 March 1861, Sayer was promoted Colonel on 21 October 1864 and Major-General on 6 February 1870. He retired from the Army in 1883, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, and was elevated to K.C.B. in the 1906 Birthday Honours’ List. He died in 1908.

Sold with copied research including a photographic image of the recipient.

Note: Another China Medal with the same two clasps to this man, named (Lt. Col. Jas. Robt. Steadman Sayer, 1st Dragn. Gds.); together with his officially impressed Crimea Medal with clasp Sebastopol (Capt. J. R. S. Sayer. 1st Dragoon Gds.) and Turkish Crimea Medal is known to exist.