Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Colonel Standish O’Grady, 2nd Viscount Guillamore, 7th Light Dragoons, who was promoted to Captain in recognition of his gallant charges which held the advancing French cavalry in check while the main body of the regiment proceeded in file across the narrow bridge of Genappe on 17 June 1815

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Orthes, Toulouse (Viscount Guillamore, Lieut. 7th Lt. Dgns.); Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. S. O. Grady, 7th Regiment Hussars.) original steel clip and contemporary gold swivel-ring bar suspension, and with three pronged gold ribbon buckle, contained in a contemporary fitted leather case, the second with light contact marks, otherwise good very fine, the first extremely fine (2) £5,000-£7,000

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Medals, the Property of a Lady.

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Standish O’Grady, 2nd Viscount Guillamore, was born at Cahir Guillamore, County Limerick, on 26 December 1792, eldest son of Standish O’Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore (1766-1840). He was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he matriculated on 4 July 1809. He did not take a degree but entered the army as a Cornet in the 7th Hussars on 21 March 1811, becoming Lieutenant on 6 August 1812. He served with the regiment in the Peninsula from August 1813 until the end of the war and was present at the actions of Orthes and Toulouse.

On 17 June 1815, he had command of the troop of the 7th Hussars on the high road from Genappe to Quatre Bras and was involved in the action at Genappe. The regiment was covering the British march from Quatre Bras to Waterloo. Sir William Dörnberg left O'Grady outside the town on the Quatre Bras road to hold in check the advancing French cavalry while the main body of the regiment proceeded in file across the narrow bridge of Genappe and up the steep street of the town. O'Grady advanced at the head of his troops as soon as the French appeared, and presented so bold a front that, after a time, they retired. When they were out of sight, he crossed the bridge at the entrance of Genappe. He took his troop at a gallop through the town, rejoining Sir William Dörnberg, who had drawn up the main body of the regiment on the sloping road at the Waterloo end of Genappe. A severe cavalry combat ensued when the French lancers reached the top of the town, in which O'Grady's regiment made a gallant charge, with considerable loss.

At Waterloo on 18 June he was stationed on the ground above Hougoumont on the British left. ‘The 7th’ he says in a letter to his father ‘had the opportunity of showing what they could do if they got fair play. We charged 12 or 14 times and once cut off a squadron of cuirassiers, every man of whom we killed on the spot except 2 officers and one Marshal de Logis, whom I sent to the rear.’ Two letters of his to Captain William Siborne, describing the movements of his regiment on 17 and 18 June 1815, were published in Waterloo Letters, edited by Major-General H. T. Siborne (London 1891). The following extract is taken from the second of these and concerns the affair at Genappe:

‘Early in the morning of the 17th the Army was drawn up to show a front, and soon afterwards the Infantry began to move to the rear. When they moved off, leaving the Cavalry, Sir C. Grant called the Field Officers together, and spoke to them for some time. When Major Hodge (who was in command of the right Squadron, to which I belonged) returned, he called me aside, and told me that the Prussians had been beaten and obliged to fall back, and that we must make a similar movement to prevent the two Armies from being disunited; that our Brigade was to retire by Regiments from the left, and that the 7th had the post of honour, the main road to cover and protect; that Sir William Dörnberg was to take charge of the skirmishers of the Brigade, and that our Squadron was to skirmish. There was at this time no appearance on the part of the Enemy of an advance, and we were to hold our ground until driven from it.

We did so and (though I cannot pretend to accuracy in point of time) I think it was twelve before their advance put us in motion. We threw out the right Troop to skirmish, and Major Hodge went with them. I held the high road with the left Troop, and had from time to time to send them assistance, and frequently to advance to enable them to hold their ground, as their movements were difficult through ploughed fields so soft that the horses were sunk up to their knees always, and sometimes to their girths.

Whilst I was so employed Sir William Dörnberg joined me. Thus we continued to dispute every inch of the ground until we came within a short distance of the town of Genappe. Here Sir William Dörnberg told me that he must leave me; that it was of the utmost importance to face the Enemy boldly at this spot, as the bridge in the town of Genappe was so narrow we must pass it in file; that I should endeavour if possible to obtain time for the skirmishers to come in, but that I was not to compromise my Troop too much. Sir William had been riding with me some hours, and when he bid me farewell he shook my hand, and I saw plainly he never expected to see me again.

I then called in the skirmishers and advanced at a trot up the road. The troops opposed to me went about, and as I followed them they did not stop as soon as I did. I continued advancing and retiring alternately, until I saw all my right Troop safe on the road in my rear, and then I began to retire at a walk, occasionally halting and fronting until I turned the corner of the town of Genappe. I then filed the men from the left and passed through the town at a gallop, no enemy in sight. When I arrived at the opposite entrance of the town I found the 7th drawn up on the road in a column of divisions, and having re-formed our Squadron we took our place between those already formed and the town.

Here I met Sir William Dörnberg, who appeared surprised to see me, and asked me how we had effected our retreat, and if we had saved any of the skirmishers, and when I told him we had not lost a man or a horse, he exclaimed, "Then Buonaparte is not with them; if he were, not a man of you could have escaped.”

Here we remained drawn up about twenty minutes before any of the Enemy appeared, and then only a few stragglers, some of whom rode into us and were found to be quite drunk. As well as I can guess, the Cavalry Column by which we were pursued, and which moved slowly, but shouting loudly along the high road, were about fourteen Squadrons. Occasionally I was able to count them, but not accurately. They might have been eighteen. And this Column now showed its head within the town. This head consisted of a Troop of Lancers, all very young men, mounted on very small horses, and commanded by a fine-looking and a very brave man. For about fifteen minutes they remained in the jaws of the town, their flanks being protected by the houses; and the street not being straight, and those in the rear not knowing that the front were halted, they soon became so jammed that they could not go about.

In this state of affairs Lord Anglesey gave us orders to charge them, which we immediately did. Of course, our charge could make no impression, but we continued cutting at them, and we did not give ground, nor did they move. Their Commanding Officer was cut down, and so was ours (Major Hodge), and this state of things lasted some minutes, when they brought down some Light Artillery, which struck the rear of the right (the charging) Squadron and knocked over some men and horses, impeding the road in our rear. We then received orders to go about from Lord Anglesey, who was up with us, but not on the road during all this time. The Lancers then advanced upon us, and in the mêlée which ensued they lost quite as many as we did, and when at last we were able to disengage ourselves they did not attempt to pursue us.

We retired through a Regiment of Light Cavalry, and the first pass we found off the road we took, and formed in the field by the road side. I then got the remnant of the right Squadron and moved them down towards the town of Genappe to look after any of our wounded, whom it might be in our power to save. When I saw the ground upon which we had charged it was strewed with men and horses, but I saw very few fighting men of the Enemy. In the meantime the Light Brigade having been removed from the road where they were when we passed through them, the Life Guards came down the road and charged into the town.

I could not, of course, see what they did, but I believe they fell upon the rear of a retiring Column, impeded by the narrowness of the bridge, and did their duty manfully.

The Enemy did not again attempt to molest us, and we reached our position without further interruption, except some picket affairs in taking up our respective Lines, in one of which Captain Heyliger of the 7th made a very brilliant charge with his Troop, and when the Duke of Wellington sent to stop him he also desired to know his name. I thought at the time, and I still think, that when we charged the Enemy at Genappe their entire Column was in the town, and that being the case it is clear that as soon as they found the head of their Column engaged, they commenced clearing their rear out of the town.

If this be the case it is obvious that the success or failure of the 7th in their charge was simply a matter of time. A little delay and they would not have had to charge, but to pursue. This as well as I recollect was Sir Wm. Dörnberg's opinion at the time when he objected to charging before their flanks were open to us. I feel, however, that I have no right to pursue this, and satisfy myself that I have given you, as well as I can now recollect them, all the facts as they came before me. A few minutes before we charged, one of the heaviest showers of rain I can remember fell, which, as it wet everybody and everything, rendered fire-arms useless, and though the French fired a few pistol shots, I don't think they did any damage; our engagement was therefore one of sabre and lance.’

Standish O’Grady’s military career continued in fits and starts. He was promoted to Captain on 20 July 1815, but was put into the reserves on half-pay the following year, probably because his father wanted him to enter politics. However, he failed in his first attempt to get into parliament and went back on active service as a Captain in the 18th Dragoons in 1819. After his election to parliament in 1820, he was again placed in the reserves in 1821. In 1825, still in the reserves, he was promoted to Major. He was placed on active service with the 24th Foot from 1828 to 1829 when he was again placed in the reserves. Meanwhile, on 16 October 1828, he married the Hon. Gertrude Jane Paget, eldest daughter of the Hon. Berkeley Paget. He succeeded to the peerage as Viscount Guillamore on 21 April 1840, on the death of his father, the 1st Viscount. In 1842 he was promoted to Colonel and became A.D.C. to the Queen the same year, a position he held until his death. Viscount Guillamore died suddenly in Dublin on 22 July 1848.

Sold with the following related prize medals:

Standish O’Grady, 1st Viscount Guillamore

a. Historical Society of the University of Dublin, a silver award medal, unsigned, standing robed female with lyre, rev. named (Standish O’Grady Esqr. for his Poem which he read to them on Wednesday the 3rd of March MDCC 84), 53mm, lacking clip and ring for suspension, very fine and rare

b. Historical Society of the University of Dublin, a silver award medal, unsigned, standing robed female with lyre, rev. named (Standish O’Grady Esqr. for his Poem which he read to them on Wednesday the 6th of Feby. 1782), 53mm, with clip and ring for suspension, very fine and rare

The Hon. Frederick Standish O’Grady, 6th Viscount Guillamore (1847-1927)

c. Oxford & Cambridge Athletic Sports Prize Medal, silver medal, unsigned, college arms, rev. named (Hon. F. S. O’Grady High Jump 1868) 60mm, very fine

Frederick Standish O’Grady married in 1881 Mary Theresa Burdett Coventry, daughter of Hon. William James Coventry, son of George Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry.

George G. Coventry, member of Oxford University’s winning crew in the 1865 Boat Race

d. Oxford V. Cambridge Putney Medal, silver-gilt, edge named (G. G. Coventry) 51mm, very fine

e. Oxford University Eight Oar Trial Race, Presented by the O.U.B.C., silver, edge named (G. G. Coventry) 51mm, good very fine