Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Major-General Albert Goldsmid, 12th Light Dragoons, one of the first Jewish officers to serve in the British Army

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelle, Nive (A. Goldsmid, Cornet 12th Lt. Dgns.); Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. Albert Goldsmid. 12th Light Dragoons) contemporarily re-engraved naming in upright serif capitals, fitted with replacement ring suspension, this with contact pitting and edge bruising, fine, both dark toned, suspension post on first in need of re-affixing, otherwise good very fine (2) £3,000-£4,000

Albert Goldsmid was born in 1794, the son of Benjamin Goldsmid, who, with his brother, occupied an important financial position in the City of London at the end of the eighteenth century. Albert and his brother, Lionel Prager Goldsmid, established a new tradition in the family by entering the Army, an example which was followed later by other members of the family. Albert entered the army on 30 April 1811, as a Cornet in the 12th Light Dragoons, aged 17, his commission purchased, as indeed were all his subsequent positions up to the rank of Major, either ‘by purchase’ or ‘by paying the difference’.

Promoted to Lieutenant in the regiment on 20 February 1812, he went on active duty in Spain in May, where he continued to serve until the close of the war in April 1814. He was present at the cavalry affairs of Castrajon, Quintare de Puerta, and Monasterio, and at the battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, Nivelle, and Nive, and was awarded the silver medal and four clasps. Throughout the Peninsula the 12th Light Dragoons served with distinction under Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. F. C. Ponsonby. At Castrajon, the 12th safeguarded Wellington from a French attack. Goldsmid lost two horses during the campaign, and was present at the siege of St Sebastian but did not qualify for that clasp. The 12th was known for consistently volunteering for outpost duty and had the honour of being the advance guard of the Army on its entry into Bordeaux. “The 12th can boast of never losing a man by surprise nor a man deserted it tried by court martial, a magnificent record”, wrote Vandeleur.

With the escape of Napoleon from Elba, the regiment was ordered to France in April 1815, and quartered at Oudenarde as part of Major-General Vandeleur’s Brigade along with the 11th and 16th Light Dragoons. On 8 May the Brigade moved to Denderwinde and was in place at Enghien on 16 June. On 18 June at Waterloo, Ponsonby had orders to act on his own discretion and he led a charge of the 12th Light Dragoons against a body of French infantry to relieve the Union Brigade. Whilst the charge of the 12th L.D. was successful in achieving its objective, they were in turn attacked by French Lancers during which Colonel Ponsonby was severely wounded and a considerable number of men were killed or wounded, almost a squadron. It was an expensive affair, though Wellington called it ‘beautiful’. Captain Barton’s squadron, in which Goldsmid served, charged again towards the end of the day, sabreing and capturing a sizeable body of enemy infantry. At Waterloo the 12th had three officers and 43 other ranks killed, and two officers and 58 other ranks wounded or missing.

Goldsmid was briefly placed on the half-pay of the 72nd Foot in 1816, but was able to obtain a Captaincy in his old regiment on 22 February 1816, by paying the difference, and in the following year the 12th was converted to a lancer regiment, becoming the 12th (or Prince of Wales’s) Royal Regiment of Lancers. He was again placed on half-pay on 26 October 1820, this time to the 60th Regiment, but transferred to the 34th Regiment on 22 December 1825, and finally retired as a Major unattached on 10 January 1826. He was gazetted Lieutenant-Colonel on 23 November 1841; Colonel, 20 June 1854; and Major-General, 26 October 1858. Major-General Albert Goldsmid, one of the first Jewish officers in the British Army, died in London on 6 January 1861.

Sold with copied research including colour portrait of an oil painting of Captain Goldsmid in Light Dragoon uniform wearing his Waterloo medal, circa 1816-17, originally published in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (Vol. 22, 1943-44).