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

Pair: Captain E. J. Lees, 17th Regiment

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Lieut., H.M. 17th Regiment), contemporary engraved naming in large capitals; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, Hunt & Roskell pattern, unnamed, mounted as worn from a Hunt & Roskell buckle-brooch-bar with gold pin, clasp loose on riband on the first, edge bruising and contact marks, about very fine and better (2) £600-700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Leicester Regiment and Yeomanry formed by the late Trevor Harris.

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Edward John Lees, who was born in Lancashire in May 1835, purchased an Ensigncy in the 17th Regiment in March 1854 and was advanced to Lieutenant - without purchase - shortly before his arrival in the Crimea in January 1855. He was subsequently present at the siege and fall of Sebastopol - including the assaults on the Great Redan in June and September of the same year - and at the bombardment and surrender of Kinburn. Following further overseas service in Canada with the 17th Regiment, Lees exchanged into the 86th Regiment in September 1860 and appears to have resigned or retired in the rank of Captain.

Sold with an original portrait of the recipient in uniform, wearing the above described awards, oil on canvas, 33ins. by 26ins., unsigned, circa 1865; together with a newspaper article reporting on the restoration of this picture by a Leicestershire artist, Peter Sumpter, in 1990.