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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 759

Five: Gunner 1st Class S. Todd, Royal Navy, who served aboard H.M.S. Dido at the bombardment of Acre in 1840 and aboard H.M.S Algiers during the Crimean War, including the capture of Kerch

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (Saml. Todd.); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Crimea 1854-56, 2 clasps, Sebastopol, Azoff, unnamed as issued; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian die, Turkish issue, unnamed as issued, pierced and fitted with straight bar suspension; St. Jean d'Acre, bronze, pierced with ring suspension, displayed as illustrated in a velvet-backed wooden case (215 x 310 mm) beneath an original framed photograph of the recipient, light contact marks, very fine (5)

Samuel Todd was born at Kingston, Hampshire on 17 September 1820. He entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class aboard H.M.S. Dido, 18 guns, on 11 May 1838. Rising to Boy 1st Class on 28 June 1840, he served aboard Dido in the amphibious operations off Syria in 1840 (Medal and clasp), part of the wider 'Oriental Crisis' caused by the expansion of Muhammed Ali Pasha's territories. He took part in the bombardment of Acre on 3 November, receiving the bronze St. Jean d'Acre Medal from the Sultan. He transferred to H.M.S. Illustrious on 6 September 1841, becoming an Able Seaman on 9 May 1844. Over the next thirty years he served chiefly aboard the hulk H.M.S. Excellent, a shore establishment at Portsmouth, with brief postings to H.M. Ships Carysfort, Persia, Algiers, Fervent, Antelope, Asia, Immortalite, Hibernia, St. Vincent, Crocodile and Durham.

During the war against Russia, Todd served as Chief Gunner's Mate aboard Algiers, a 91-gun second rate ship-of-the-line which had been fitted with screw propulsion in 1852. He fought in both the Baltic and Crimean theatres (Medals), receiving clasps for 'Sebastopol' and 'Azoff'. Algiers took part in the capture of Kerch and Yenikale in May 1855 (see London Gazette, 28 June 1855). His Crimea Medal was delivered to him in the theatre of operations on 26 February 1856. Promoted to Gunner 2nd Class on 23 December 1862, he advanced to 1st Class on 15 September 1870 and was discharged to pension on 22 November 1875; sold with copied research and service records.

Recommended reading:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N13978932


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Sold for
£1,900

Starting price
£700

Sale 20001 Notices
Azoff clasp not confirmed.