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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 75

The 'Bombardment of Alexandria 1882' Order of the Medjidie group of five awarded to Fleet Surgeon D. O'Connor, Royal Navy, later Deputy Inspector General, whose long career included service with Cruizer in all her major engagements during the Second Opium War, being sunk with the gunboat Lee beneath the Taku Forts in June 1859

Further service brought him to Abyssinia with H.M.S. Dyrad and finally to the bombardment of Alexandria which he witnessed from H.M.S. Superb

China 1857-60, 2 clasps, Canton 1857, Taku Forts 1860, unnamed as issued; Abyssinia 1867-68 (D O'Connor. M.D. Surgn. H.M.S. Dryad); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, 1 clasp Alexandria 11th July (D. O'Connor. M.D. Fleet. Surg. R.N. H.M.S. Superb); Khedive's Star, unnamed as issued; Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Order of the Medjidie, 4th Class breast Badge, silver, gold centre and enamel, minor contact wear overall, minor chipping to enamel of fifth, very fine (5)

Turkish Order of the Medjidie London Gazette 16 January 1883.

Daniel O'Connor was appointed Apprentice Surgeon with the Royal Navy on 7 August 1856 and posted first to H.M.S. Cruizer. It proved to be a baptism of fire as this vessel then spent the next year engaged in the Second China War, with some of her boats even being present for the early Battle at Fatshan Creek on 1 June 1857. Despite not being entitled to a clasp for this action O'Connor may well have been present or at least nearby as an article in The British Medical Journal notes that he was '...employed on boat-service in Canton River. Present at [the] bombardment and capture of Canton.'

As the article states he was also present for the fall of the city on 31 December, indeed the men of Cruizer were at the forefront of the fighting with her Commander - Charles Fellowes - first man over the walls. In action against with Cruizer the next year on the Yang-Tse-Kiang River against Taiping Rebels; O'Connor joined the gunboat lee for the attack on the Taku Forts in June 1859.

The British managed to cut the first boom and advanced confidently upriver only to discover that a second boom which they failed to break. At that moment with their ships at a standstill beneath the forts the Chinese opened a withering fire. Plover was seriously damaged and Lee was forced to beach and evacuate. O'Connor survived heavy fire and was picked up from the wreckage of Lee by H.M.S. Cormandel, he passed the remainder of the engagement tending to the wounded with her.

With the Indian Mutiny in full swing and the Allied army repulsed, it would be another year before a second attempt on the Forts was made. For the third attempt O'Connor was with the Algerine-class gunboat Leven, this attack was successful and the crew of Cruizer ended the year conducting a survey for anchorages near Peking.

O'Connor's long service with this vessel ended on 1 May 1861 and he was promoted Acting Surgeon with H.M.S. Shannon on 11 April 1865, going on to be confirmed with the rank with Dryad. Also, with this vessel he saw service in the Abyssinian expedition when Dryad actually landed a Naval Brigade - although it is unknown if O'Connor was present with them. He was later to be promoted Staff Surgeon while with the shore establishment Fisgard on 5 July 1875.

Posted to the newly launched corvette Sapphire on 9 August 1875 just prior to her transfer to the Australia Station. O'Connor was to see a full tour of service in Australia, being further advanced Fleet Surgeon about half-way through this posting on 20 November 1877. His final taste of action was as the Fleet Surgeon with the battleship Superb which he joined on 9 October 1880. He was still with her during the bombardment of Alexandria were she fired 310 10-inch shells at the Egyptian defenders. Finally posted to Devonport Yard on 12 June 1885 O'Connor retired with the rank of Deputy Inspector General on 5 September 1887, he died at Killarney on 14 September 1890; sold together with copied research comprising a medal roll, service records and extracts from The British Medal Journal and London Gazette.

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Sold for
£1,800

Starting price
£550