Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Lieutenant-Colonel R. D. Clephane, 79th Regiment

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol (Major R. D. Clephane, 79th Highlanders) contemporary engraved naming in upright capitals, probably by Hunt & Roskell; Italian States, Kingdom of Sardinia, Al Valore Militare, silver, mint mark ‘F.G’ (Bt. Lt. Coll. Robt. Douglas Clephane, 79 Regt.); Ottoman Empire, Order of the Medjidie, 5th Class breast badge, silver, gold and enamel; Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue, unnamed, all four fitted with contemporary silver ribbon buckles, (4) £2,400-£2,800

Al Valore Militare: ‘Served the Eastern campaign of 1854 and 1855, including the battles of the Alma and Balaklava, and siege of Sebastopol, including the assault of 18th June, the expeditions to Kertch and Yenikale.’

Order of the Medjidie, 5th Class, London Gazette 2 March 1858.

Robert Douglas Clephane was born on 1 January 1821, at Kirkness House, Loch Leven, son of the Sherrif of Fifeshire. He was appointed Ensign in the 79th Highlanders, by purchase, on 8 June 1836; Lieutenant, by purchase on 18 September 1840; Captain, by purchase, on 11 April 1845; Major on 13 August 1854; and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 6 June 1856, for services during the assault on the fortifications at Sebastopol on 18 June 1855. He retired by the sale of his commission on 6 June 1856, residing at Duddington, Midlothian and later at Moffat, Dumfries. He died at Strattendry, Fife, on 2 February 1887, aged 67.