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Auction: 18001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 283

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'An act of extreme bravery which led to the recommendation for a Victoria Cross was that of Gunners Coyne and Beaudry, who coolly clambered down a ravine to rescue a wounded comrade of 'A' Battery, who was lying within a hundred yards of the rebel pits.'

The Gunners of Canada, by G. W. L. Nicholson, refers.

A notable North-West Canada campaign pair awarded to Sergeant M. 'Matt' Coyne, Canadian Artillery, late Royal Canadian Rifles and 60th Foot, who was recommended for the V.C. for his gallantry at the storming of Batoche on 12 May 1885 - he was wounded by a shell splinter in the neck on the same occasion

North-West Canada 1885, 1 clasp, Saskatchewan (631 Sergt. M. Coyne, "A" Battery, C.A.), officially re-engraved naming up to 'Battery, C.A.'; Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., small letter reverse (1829 Serjt. M. Coyne, 1-60th Foot), officially impressed naming, generally very fine

The Army L.S. & G.C. Medal awarded to Private M. R. J. Coyne, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps and 'Matt' Coyne's son

Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., robed bust, Canada (Pte. M. R. J. Coyne, R.C.O.C.), together with his 'Honourable Service' badge, the reverse numbered '88444', good very fine (3)


Matthew 'Matt' Coyne was born in Quebec, Lower Canada in March 1836 and enlisted as a boy bugler in the Royal Canadian Rifles at Niagara in June 1851.

He subsequently served as a Colour Sergeant in the 1st (Ontario) Battalion of the Rifles in the Red River Expedition of 1870 but did not claim - or live to claim - his Canada General Service Medal & clasp. Having transferred to the 60th Foot in the same year, he reverted to the rank of Sergeant and was discharged in June 1873; he was recommended for his L.S. & G.C. Medal by the O.C., 1st Battalion, 60th Foot in April 1874.

The storming of Batoche, 12 May 1885

In August 1878, Coyne enlisted in the Canadian Artillery and it was in this capacity that he witnessed active service in 'A' Battery at the battle of Fish Creek in April 1885. But it was for his part in the subsequent battle of Batoche that he rose to prominence.

The decisive battle of the North-West Rebellion, Batoche pitted the Canadian authorities against a force of indigenous and Métis people. Fought from 9-12 May 1885, the greater numbers and superior firepower of General Frederick Middleton's force could not be successfully countered by the Métis - as had happened at the earlier Battle of Fish Creek - and the town was eventually captured. The defeat of the Métis led to the surrender of Louis Riel on 15 May and the collapse of the Provisional Government.

Another glimpse of Coyne's gallant service is to be found in a feature that was published in The Montreal Star on 13 May 1885:

'A genuine hero and one of the most popular men in the force at the present time is Gunner 'Matt' Coyne of 'A' Battery. He was one of the gallant quarter of a hundred who stood up against a hail of bullets from the rebel pits in the bottom of the coulee, and perhaps the coolest of the twenty-five. It is not by the part that he took in the engagement however, that he won the admiration of the force so much as the self-denial he has practised since in attending the wounded. Ever since the fight the warm-hearted artilleryman has been in constant attendance at the hospital tents, cheering his wounded comrades by words of sympathy or the yarns of old soldiering days, and occasionally feeding broth or some other tasty tit-bit made with his own hands at the camp fire in some mysterious way with his camp rations and whatever else he could beg. He in fact fulfilled all the duties of a Sister of Mercy and that the wounded have progressed so favourably is in great measure due to the kindly hand and encouraging voice of 'Matt' Coyne.'

Coyne had in fact been wounded himself, by a shell splinter in the neck. He was still serving in 'A' Battery at the time of his death at Kingston, Ontario in April 1891, his demise in part being attributed to his old neck wound.

Matthew Raleigh Joseph Coyne, his son, joined the Canadian Ordnance Corps in December 1916 and served in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force from October 1918.


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