Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Talavera (A. H. M. Belches, Capt. 3rd Dgn. Gds.) dark toned, about extremely fine £1,600-£2,000

Alexander Hepburn Murray Belches/Belshes was born on 22 June 1778, elder son of John Hepburn Belshes (c.1745-1819) and his wife Mary, daughter and eventual heir of Sir Patrick Hepburn Murray of Balmanno Castle. He was appointed a Cornet in the 3rd Dragoon Guards on 3 May 1797, becoming Lieutenant on 11 January 1800, Captain in the Army on 19 July 1801, and a Captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards on 3 December 1802. Belches served with his regiment in the Peninsula from May to September 1809, including at the Battle of Talavera on 27-28 July as squadron commander of his troop. He transferred as Major to the 15th Light Dragoons on 31 August 1809, and resigned his commission in 1813, returning to Scotland where he was a J.P. for Perthshire and East Lothian and D.L. (from 1819) for Perthshire. An officer in the Perthshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Captain; made Major in 1821; disbanded in 1828), he was also a Convenor of Perthshire, a Commissioner of Supply (from 1812), a director of the Perth City and County Infirmary, and a supporter of many other charitable endeavours. He inherited the Invermay estate from his father in 1819, and the Balmanno estate from his mother in 1823 - although Balmanno Castle was occupied by his brother John Murray Belshes, a Captain in the 59th Foot (M.G.S. 4 clasps). He was unmarried and died without issue at Invermay on 17 January 1864, and was buried in the family burying place at Muckersie chapel.

Sold with copied research including detailed family history and an image of a portrait miniature of him by Nathaniel Plimer once sold at auction.