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Auction: 14003 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria
Lot: 330

An Emotive Waterloo Medal to Sergeant Major J. Draffen, Grenadier Guards, Severely Wounded at Waterloo 'Through Both Thighs and the Testicles' During the Defence of Hougoumont, 18.6.1815
Waterloo 1815 (Sergeant James Draffen 2nd Batt Grenad. Guards.), edge bruising, otherwise nearly very fine, with later steel clip and split ring suspension

Sergeant Major James Draffen, born Hamilton, Lanarkshire, 1786; enlisted into the 1st Foot Guards, November 1803; promoted Corporal, October 1805; served with the Guards in Sicily, 1806; in the Peninsular, 1808-09, where he took part in the Corunna campaign; and at Walcheren, 1809; promoted Sergeant, April 1810; served with the Guards at Bergen-op-Zoom, March 1814; and during the Waterloo Campaign, 16-18.6.1815, where at the epic day-long defence of Hougoumont he was serving in Lieutenant-Colonel Milnes' light company of the 2nd Battalion. Early in the morning of the 18th June, Milnes' company, together with the light company of the 3rd Battalion, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Saltoun, were ordered to the orchard in front of Hougoumont where they joined the other two Guards light companies (2nd battalions of the Coldstream and Scots Guards), who were inside defending the buildings, in a desperate attempt to keep the French at bay. Both Wellington and Napoleon saw Hougoumont as the key to the whole Waterloo position and the enemy attacks were pushed home with great determination. By the end of the day the 2nd Battalion light company had lost all its officers and senior non-commissioned officers, either killed or wounded, including Draffen, severely wounded through both thighs and the testicles. Wellington said of the successful defence of Hougoumont, 'You may depend upon it, that no troops but the British could have held Hougoumont, and only the best of them at that.'
Draffen was promoted Sergeant-Major, July 1828. Upon discharge, May 1830, after 28 years and 173 days with the Colours, he was awarded one of the first Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medals, and was appointed a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London; he died in February 1837, and is buried at the Tower of London.

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Sold for
£4,200