Orders, Decorations and Medals

The important Peninsula War pair awarded to Colonel John Hogge, K.H., 20th Foot, who was wounded at the battle of Vimiera, commanded the Light Company of the 20th with distinction at Orthes, and was stationed at St Helena at the time of Napoleon’s death

The Royal Guelphic Order, K.H. (Military) Knight’s breast badge, gold and enamels, lacking ribbon buckle; Military General Service 1793-1814, 9 clasps, Maida, Vimiera, Corunna, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse (John Hogge, Capt. 20th Foot) together with original documents including three letters from the Peninsula 1813-14, another relating the death of Napoleon in 1821, transmission letter for M.G.S., letter of notification of award of K.H. in 1837, and later correspondence from the Hanoverian Legation in London requesting the return of the insignia after the Colonel’s death in 1864, toned, good very fine (2) £10000-12000

John Hogge was gazetted Ensign in the 20th Foot on 3 September 1803; Lieutenant, 1 August 1805; Captain, 9 March 1809; Major, 17 December 1818; Lieutenant-Colonel, 12 December 1826; Colonel (Retired), 23 November 1841.

‘Colonel Hogge served the campaign in Calabria under Sir John Stuart and was present with the 20th at the battle of Maida. He served afterwards in the Peninsula with the 20th and was present at the battles of Vimiera (wounded), Corunna, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. He has received the War Medal with nine clasps.’

Hogge was appointed a Knight of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order in January 1837 (accompanying letter signed ‘Ompteda’ [Commander of 2nd Brigade K.G.L. at Waterloo] 5 January 1837 refers). Subsequent to his death in 1864, Mrs Maria Hogge received a request from the Hanoverian Legation in London for the return of the ‘Ribband and Badge of a Guelphic Knight lately worn by your lamented Husband, the gallant Colonel Hogge, late 11 Foot, K.H., Decd.’ Further correspondence reveals that Mrs Hogge wished to keep the decoration worn by her late husband, even though it was strictly returnable. This was eventually allowed upon payment of 32 Thalers or £4-16-., ‘representing the value of the Badge’, and there is included an official receipt from the Hanoverian Legation giving her permission to retain the badge, dated January 13, 1865.

Of the surviving letters written by Hogge, the first is addressed to his sister, Miss Anne Hogge, at Lynne, Norfolk. Postmarked ‘foreign. 1813. MA 18’, it is dated Almendra May 4th, 1813. The 20th had been billeted in the town of Almendra since March and was about to begin a series of long forced marches, as part of Lowry Cole’s 4th Division, that would bring it to a position before Vittoria on the 20th June. The eagerness with which the army is looking foward to the campaign is obvious in Hogge’s letter:

‘We are now about to commence a more active life, the army is in motion, Lord Wellington inspects our division tomorrow, on a plain six miles from this, we shall muster 6000 men, immediately after we march for Spain. What our first objective is no one knows, everything here is kept a perfect secret, the general opinion is that Burgos is our first object, an immense battery train of artillery has lately arrived from Lisbon, it looks as if this summer would employ us in taking from them all their strong holds, that we shall drive them beyond the Ebro, I have no doubt our force collectively is very great, we shall have 50,000 Spaniards acting with us, what dependency is to be placed upon them time will show if they do their duty. I hope this summer will finish the Peninsula War, we must keep pace with our brothers in the North, Bonaparte must give in, but no peace till he is dead or dethroned.’

Hogge’s second letter is addressed to his brother, Revd. Martin Hogge, at Swaffham, Norfolk. Postmarked ‘foreign. 1814. ja 5’, it is dated Decr. 25th, 1813. Written shortly after Hill’s repulse of a superior French force at St Pierre, he describes the bad conditions under which he and the troops were living: ‘...the carrion that is served out to us, food that is not calculated for a delicate stomach. We did expect that on entering France we should be able to procure fowl &c. and live a little better than we did in the mountains, but alas, the people as we advanced quitted their houses, of course what was left was plundered by the Portuguese and Bretons... This last business was so severe that two of our officers have sent in their resignations, determined not to suffer any longer, a person feels it a great deal more after living in a house for some time before, the sudden change from a dry house to sleeping on the wet ground without any shelter in Oct. has try’d some of the strongest names...’

His next letter, to ‘My Dear Bro’, has no address or postmark of any kind, but is dated March 4th, 1814, Grenade, and is written shortly after the battle of Orthes. In it, Hogge gives a first hand account of the battle in which he commanded the Light Company of the 20th in close combat with the enemy and has three lucky escapes:

‘I embrace the first moment I had to spare since the battle of the 27th to let you know I have again escaped one of the most murderous battles that ever I believe the old 20th witnessed. I had three most wonderful escapes, three balls struck me, one entering the glass you bought me in London, when in the act of looking at the troops opposed to us, the ball still remains in but has entirely destroyed the glass. Another entered my jacket near the right breast, was turned by striking a button, passed along my waistcoat, came out and badly wounded a man of my company. A grape shot struck the top of my shoulder, carried away the bugle and most of my right wing but did no other injury except a slight bruise. You will say my dear brother I am a fortunate fellow, I think to myself, for I believe no man ever had narrower escapes, the jacket and spyglass I shall preserve and one day I hope to show you them. I shall now begin to relate what passed on that eventful day confining myself to that part of the tragedy our Brigade acted.’

‘The Light Companies of the 23rd, 7th, 20th, and a company of Rifles were in advance about 2 miles, when we came in contact with the advance post of the enemy, we immediately engaged them and drove them about a mile into a village where they had posted, unbeknown to us, a number of men in every part. We attacked it three times but did not succeed, soon after two companies of the 7th reinforced us and we quickly drove them out, took possession and retained it till the Brigade came up, we lost in this affair two Captains and about 60 men out of the light companies of the Brigade, eleven of my company were killed and wounded. It was here I had two escapes. We were then ordered to join our Regts. I found mine just in rear of the village.’

‘Soon after an order came to us to advance and support our Portuguese Brigade, as they had just given way about half a mile in front of us. The great bone of contention was a small town [St Böes] and a range of hills just in the van of it, upon which a strong column of French were posted with 6 pieces of Artillery. The main road ran directly through the town, and the heights and all the Artillery commanded it, we fixed bayonets and there the bloody scene commenced. I passed the Portuguese and actually carried the town under a most dreadful fire of grape shot and musquetry, that ever a regiment was exposed to, out of 291, all we had, 126 men and nine officers were killed and wounded. We had two other officers wounded but they were not returned so, being slightly hit. The enemy attempted again to take it from us, they got into the town but we managed to drive them out again. They carried away about 25 of our men and Captain Tovey, they surrounded them. The 7th Division soon came up and the French retreated in all directions. We followed till darkness put an end to the contest.’

‘Genl Moss was wounded but not badly before we took the town. Major Bent who nobly commanded us had first his horse shot and was immediately afterwards killed himself. Three balls entered him. One Captain killed and three badly wounded. Capt Russell commands what few of us are left, he certainly gets the Brevet. Col Ellis, who commands the Brigade, rode into the town after we had taken it and declared that there never was a more gallant thing done by any Regt, and his Lordship sent in soon after to know what Regt it was that had taken the town. It is certain that they had in it double our numbers, posted so as to rake every part of the road leading through the town. Had we not succeeded we should have been cut to atoms, the only chance we had was to charge through it instantly, and after driving them out get under cover of the houses. It was impossible for our men to have stood it for five minutes longer, the grape from the Artillery on the hills cut us down by the dozens at a time. I got off most fortunately with the loss only of a strap. We mustered on parade next day only 144 men and nine officers. Soult may now say he annihilated us.’

After participating in the final battle of the Peninsula War at Toulouse, Hogge retirned to Cork with the regiment and remained in Ireland until March 1819, when he embarked, now a Major, with the rest of the regiment, bound for St Helena, arriving there in June 1819. Early in 1820, the 20th move to Deadwood, relieving the 66th Foot in the immediate charge of and as guard over the residence of the Emperor Napoleon. The regiment was at this time commanded by Major Jackson, Hogge being second Major. The 20th was singularly connected with the last days of the “Great Napoleon.” On the 19th March, 1821, Doctor Arnott, the regimental Surgeon, was first consulted by the Emperor’s physician, Professor Antommarchi, and he paid his first visit to the Emperor on the evening of the 1st of April. From this date, the doctor’s visits were of daily occurrence. On the death of the Emperor, on the 5th of May, 1821, the body was placed in Surgeon Arnott’s charge, and he watched over it night and day until the funeral. The officer on duty when the Emperor died was Captain William Crokat (see Stott Collection, DNW, 25 March 1997, lot 7), and he regulated and controlled the order of admittance of persons wishing to view the body of the deceased. Twelve Grenadiers of the 20th carried the remains to the grave. The London Gazette of the 4th July, 1821, announced the arrival in London of Captain Crokat, 20th Regiment, with a dispatch from Sir Hudson Lowe, informing the Government of Napoleon’s death.

The final letter in Hogge’s small archive is addressed to his Sister, from St Helena, and begun on the 5th May 1821:

‘My Dear Sister,

Your letter dated April 6 1821 I am sorry to see still before me unanswered, I also had the gratification of receiving yours of Jany. 9th 21 yesterday, by the store ship that arrived direct from England. I shall not fill up a sheet by apologizing for my ineptitude but my long silence was chiefly occasioned in the expectation of a great and important event taking place on this rock, no less, than the momentary expectation of the death of that great but unfortunate man Bonaparte, perhaps before I finish this letter. His sufferings like have terminated for the last 48 hours all hopes of recovery have vanished, the Doctors (& there are no less than us of them) say, that mortal symptoms have appeared, a brig of war is ready to slip her cable the instant the event takes place, and as our Surgeon [Arnott] has constantly attended him, I understand he embarks to carry the intelligence to England, as I will not have time to write after the event I was determined to have this missive ready, perhaps a few weeks after you receive this letter all necessity for a correspondence will cease...’

‘I believe in my last letter I prognosticated a speedy release from this rock. The melancholy fits he [Napoleon] indulged in for days together, the inhospitality of getting the most harmless thing to remain in his stomach, besides other symptoms of mental derangement, convinced me he was not long for this world. It has caused a wonderful sensation in this island, ruination stares many in the face, the authorities here I will venture to say, have slept little for the last 3 days, a day will come I hope when some of them will have to answer for the treatment that unfortunate man has received at their hands besides some better atonement made to those officers who have fallen victims to their knavery and power...’

‘The event that I anticipated in the first part of my letter has just been announced to us, that great man died last night. I have obtained permission to take a last view of him, previous to his being buried. I have just seen our Surgeon who tells me as yet no alteration has taken place in his countenance. I dare say the newspapers will give you a detailed acct. of his death, he is to be buried with all the honours due to a General of the highest rank. The 20th will have the mournful task of following him to the grave.’