Auction Catalogue

22 September 2006

Starting at 11:30 AM

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Orders, Decorations and Medals

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

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Lot

№ 149

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22 September 2006

Hammer Price:
£8,800

Pair: Surgeon John Bushby Gibson, 52nd Foot

Military General Service 1793-1814, 8 clasps, Fuentes D’Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse (J. B. Gibson, Surgn. 52nd Foot); Waterloo 1815 (Surg. J. Bushby Gibson, 1st Batt. 52nd Reg. Foot) fitted with replacement silver bar suspension, both medals fitted with silver ribbon buckles, the second with bruising and contact wear, nearly very fine, the first nearly extremely fine (2) £4000-5000

John Bushby Gibson was born on 11 February 1782. He was appointed Hospital Assistant on 8 August 1803, and as Assistant Surgeon to the 20th Light Dragoons the following month. He served with the 20th Light Dragoons in Egypt in 1807 and was present at the capture of Alexandria, the siege of Rosetta, and the affair at El Hamet, where he was made prisoner. The prisoners taken at El Hamet in April 1807 were transported up the Nile by boat to Cairo, the preserved heads of their fallen comrades in the holds below their feet. At Cairo both heads and prisoners were paraded around the city to the great delight of the inhabitants and the prisoners were then incarcerated throughout the city. There they remained imprisoned throughout the heat of the Egyptian summer until September, when the survivors were exchanged.

In 1809 he was present at the capture of Ischia and Procida, and became Surgeon of the Sicilian Regiment in December of that year. He was appointed as Surgeon to the 52nd Foot in December 1810 and served with that regiment throughout the war in the Peninsula until the peace in 1814. He was present at Sabugal, Fuentes D’Onor, Marcalva, Ciudad Rodrigo, San Milan, Vittoria, Lesacca and Bidassoa, Vera, Nivelle, Arboune, Nive (9th, 10th, and 11th December 1813). Orthes, Tarbes, and Toulouse. Finally he served the campaign of 1815, including the battle of Waterloo. He died on 3 August 1849.