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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 613

(x) A regimentally important group of three awarded to Lieutenant-General J. R. S. Sayer, K.C.B., 1st Dragoon Guards, decorated for leading a celebrated charge against Chinese entrenchments along the Pei-Ho River, 20 September 1860

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Capt. J. R. S. Sayer. 1st Dragoon Gds.), officially impressed; China 1860, 2 clasps, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860 (Lt. Col. Jas. Robt. Steadman Sayer, 1st Dragn. Gds.); Turkish Crimea, British issue, pierced with dual ring suspension, the first with edge wear, good very fine (3)

[K.C.B.] London Gazette 29 June 1906.

[C.B.] London Gazette 1 March 1861.

James Robert Steadman Sayer was born in 1826 at White Lodge, Sibton, Suffolk, the eldest son of Robert Sayer, High Sheriff of Suffolk. Captain Fredrick Sayer, 23rd Foot was his younger brother (see Lot 368). James entered the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards as a Cornet on 23 May 1845, and his portrait in uniform was painted by the renowned miniaturist Maria A. Chalon (1800-1867). Advancing to Lieutenant by purchase on 31 March 1848 and Captain on 22 November 1850, he embarked aboard Himalaya at Liverpool in May 1855 for service in the Crimea. The Regiment reached Balaclava Harbour in August, and was present at the Battle of Tchernaya and the Siege of Sebastopol (clasp).

Promoted to Major on 6 February 1857 and Lieutenant-Colonel 21 October 1859, he commanded the Regiment in China throughout the campaign of 1860, including the action of Sinho and the surrender of Pekin. On 20 September, the King's Dragoon Guards made a daring and successful charge against Tartars in entrenched positions along a bank of the Pei-Ho River, a manoeuvre deemed impossible for cavalry to achieve. Sayer was mentioned in despatches for this action, Sidney Herbert writing to Queen Victoria:

'The charge of the King's Dragoon Guards was an act of horsemanship most remarkable. The Tartars were posted on an elevated mound with a deep ditch in front, and the Horse had not only to clear the ditch, but also to lead up the height at the same time. Only one man was unhorsed. The Sikh cavalry tried to do it, but upwards of 30 saddles were immediately empty. On looking at this and another obstacle with a deep drop, which the KDG passed, he [General Sir Hope Grant] says it is impossible to conceive how cavalry could do it.'

The Tartars scattered before the advancing British cavalry. Made a Knight Commander of the Bath on 1 March 1861, Sayer advanced to Colonel on 21 October 1864 and Major-General on 6 February 1870. He retired from the Army in 1883, with the rank of Lieutenant-General, and was elevated to K.C.B. in the 1906 Birthday Honours. Having married Sarah Ann Blundell at Madras in 1862, he died in 1908; sold with a folder of copied research and London Gazette entries.

See Lot 368 for the medals awarded to Sayer's younger brother, Captain Frederick Sayer, Royal Welch Fusiliers, who was wounded in the ankle at the Battle of the Alma.

See Lot 628 for the rare Egypt Medal with Khedive's Star awarded to Sayer's nephew, Frederick Charles Robert Sayer, New South Wales Artillery.


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Sold for
£2,100