Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

China 1842 (T. V. Anson, Commander, H.M.S. Pylades) very fine £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Kuriheka Collection of British Medals.

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Collection

Ex Blair Collection 1937.

109 medals issued to this ship which also carried 21 R.M. officers and men.

Talavera Vernon Anson was born on 26 November 1809, fifth son of General Sir George Anson, G.C.B., K.T.S., M.P., who commanded a brigade of cavalry at the battle of Talavera in July of that year (see DNW sale of 30 June 1998, Lot 512, for his large gold medal group). A collateral descendant of Vice-Admiral Lord Anson, he was also a nephew of General Sir William Anson, Bart., G.C.B., and cousin of the Earl of Lichfield, formerly Postmaster-General, and General Hon. George Anson, who died as Commander-in-Chief of the forces in India in 1857 (see DNW sale of 23 September 2005, Lot 64, for his Waterloo medal). Talavera Anson was also brother of Captain O. H. St G. Anson, of the 9th Lancers (see DNW sale of 28 March 2002, Lot 22, for his group of medals), and of the late G. A. Anson, of the 11th Light Dragoons, Lieutenant F. H. Anson, R.N., and of Major F. W. Anson, H.E.I.C.S.

Anson entered the Navy in June 1824, becoming Lieutenant in March 1833. He assumed command of the Pylades on 12 December 1839, and for his subsequent services in China, where he took an able and indefatigable part in the operations against Canton, and witnessed the fall of Amoy, he was elevated to Post-rank on 8 June 1841. Captain Anson returned to England in 1842, and afterwards commanded the Eurydice at the Cape of Good Hope, and the James Watt at Devonport until paid off in 1857. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in July 1861, to Vice-Admiral in April 1866, and to Admiral in October 1872, and was granted a Greenwich hospital pension of £150 in May 1894. Admiral Talavera Anson died in London on 9 September 1895.