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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 67

A fine Crimean War casualty Medal awarded to Private W. Stokes, Scots Fusilier Guards, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of the Alma on 23 September 1854

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Alma (W. Stokes. Scots Fusilr. Gds.), officially impressed naming, good very fine

William Stokes was born at Chillswicken, Worcester, and enlisted for the Scots Fusilier Regiment of Foot Guards on 10 March 1854. He transferred to the east on 28 June 1854, and was part of the 1st Battalion, Scots Fusilier Guards, which formed the centre unit of the Guards Brigade at the Alma. The regiment suffered heavy losses during the battle, firstly from the chaos caused by the retreat of the Light Division, and secondly from a large scale Russian bayonet counter attack, described in modern sources as nothing short of 'brutal carnage'.

During this chaos, the Colour party of the regiment, whose Colours had been shot through, held their ground against the overwhelming Russian force and safeguarded their Colours from the enemy, thus helping to rally the men. Pouring a withering and accurate fire into the Russians, the Brigade of Guards, including the Scots Fusilier Guards, subsequently advanced and caused the Russians to retreat, paving the way for the capture of the Great Redoubt.

Stokes died of his wounds on 23 September 1854. The 1st Battalion, Scots Fusilier Guards suffered 29 killed and 147 wounded; sold with copied research.


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Sold for
£650