REVIEW: ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA: 5 NOVEMBER

Napoleonic War medals dominated the highlights of this auction, the top four lots exceeding estimates, each with a dramatic personal history to capture the imagination.

Leading the way at £32,000 against an estimate of £20,000-24,000 was the extremely rare M.G.S Waterloo and St Sebastian ‘Forlorn Hope’ Medal Group previewed in detail in the last newsletter.

Another rare 12-clasp M.G.S. medal awarded to Sergeant Thomas Brazell, 88th Foot also performed with distinction, selling for £16,000 against hopes of £5,000-7,000.

Brazell’s distinguished bravery at the battle of Busaco and at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo are recorded in the 88th Regimental Records.

He served from 1793-1814, and the 12 clasps were for Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes D’Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse.

Among Brazell’s courageous actions was one that saved the life of an officer, as later reported in the 88th Regimental Records quoted in the Whitaker catalogue of 1890:
“During the short but arduous conflict, Captain Dunne had a hairbreadth escape. He had made a cut at one of the French riflemen, but struck short, the man being above the reach of the weapon; the Frenchman’s bayonet was within a few inches of Captain Dunne's breast, and his finger near the trigger, when Sergeant Brazell, rushing forward, although he fell upon his face in making the lunge, buried his halberd in the Frenchman's body, and rescued his officer from certain death.” (Vide Battle of Busaco.)
A further astonishing act of self-sacrifice rescued others from the French guns:

“On each side of the breach was a 24-pounder, every discharge from which swept it with a raking fire. Major Thompson of the 74th (Acting Engineer), observing the destruction occasioned by these guns, ordered the few men near him to storm the one on his left; the nearest men happened to be three of the 88th regiment, Sergeant Brazell (who saved Captain Dunne's life at Busaco), Kelly, and Swan. Beneath them and the gun was a deep intrenchment, which would have rendered it impossible for them to reach it in time to anticipate its next fatal discharge, if they were encumbered with their firelocks. Without a moment's hesitation, they threw aside the heavier weapon, and armed only with their bayonets, leaped the interposing barrier, rushed up to the muzzle of the piece, and, after a short but desperate combat (in which Swan lost his arm by a stroke of a sabre), put all the French gunners to death and silenced the gun. The troops on the breach were now safe from the havoc which had previously been so fatal to their comrades, and in half-an-hour the town was carried.” (Vide Storming of Ciudad Rodrigo.)
Also previewed in the last newsletter was the fine Egypt, Peninsula and Waterloo campaign group of three awarded to Lieutenant-General J. C. Bourchier, 11th Light Dragoons, afterwards Colonel of the 3rd Dragoon Guards. It sold for £13,000 against expectations of £6,000-8,000.

A scarce Egypt and Peninsula campaign pair awarded to Major-General Peter Dudgeon, 58th Foot, who was twice wounded at the siege of Burgos in 1812 – slightly at the storming of Fort St Michael on 19 September, and severely in the assault and capture of the exterior line of the castle of Burgos on the evening of 4 October – made £8,500 against hopes of £4,000-5,000.