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Auction: 22001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 13

Military General Service 1793-1814, 7 clasps, Fuentes d'Onor, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse (Peter Caffary, 88th Foot.), mounted court-style on card for display, sometime laquered, good very fine

Peter Caffary, a native of Castle Bellingham north of Dublin, was born in 1786 and enlisted with the 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) on 3 October 1809, giving his profession as a Labourer and his age as 23. The 88th made a great reputation for themselves in the Peninsular, their Brigade commander - the redoubtable Sir Thomas Picton - often referring to the regiment as 'The Devil's Own' or, more unkindly, the 'Connaught Footpads', due to their propensity for hard fighting and plundering in equal measure!

The regiment saw much fighting from 1809 onwards, and it is likely Caffary was part of a draft of replacements sent out to bring the unit back up to strength after the battles of Talavera and Bussaco - indeed, his first action was the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro (3-5 May 1811) in which the Irishmen of the 88th lived up to their fearsome reputation, being ordered (along with the Scotsmen of the 74th) by Wellington himself to spearhead a desperate counter-attack on the village when the fate of the battle hung in the balance.
The Medal Roll notes Caffary 'Absent Sick' for some time afterward; he therefore missed the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and the Battle of Salamanca - at this latter action the battalion captured an exotic Turkish-style musical instrument from a French band, which was known as a 'Jingling Johnny' and became a proud battle-honour thenceforward. Returning to duty, Caffary then served with his unit for the remainder of the war, and was severely wounded in the head at the Battle of Vittoria (21 June 1813) - likely in the heavy fighting the regiment saw at the contested crossing of the Bridge of Mendoza or the fight for the village of Arinez.
Despite this severe wound, Caffary participated in the final few major battles of the Peninsular campaign, culminating in Toulouse in 1814. His papers then note brief service in America (by a stroke of bad fortune missing both the last engagements of the War of 1812 and the Battle of Waterloo) followed by two years in France with the Army of Occupation. Caffary then went with the 88th to the Ionian Islands, and was discharged at his own request in January 1831 at Corfu, with a pension of 10d per diem. His conduct was noted as 'Good' and he retired to Chester after a total of 21 years, 121 days with the Colours; he is also noted as a recipient of the 88th Foot Order of Merit 1818, Second Class (Regimental and Volunteer Medals 1745-1895, Vol.1, refers).

Sold with copied service papers and copied regimental history and research. For further information on the 88th Foot's actions during the Peninsular War it is worth referring to Lieutenant William Grattan's stirring military memoir: 'Adventures with the Connaught Rangers, 1809-1814'.

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Sold for
£4,000

Starting price
£2500