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Auction: 24003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 19

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Martinique, Guadaloupe (Saml Hattersley, Royal York Rangers.), good very fine

Provenance:
Spink, June 1987.

Samuel Hattersley is confirmed upon the roll with entitlement to this medal and clasps.

The Royal York Rangers were formed in 1807 mostly of British and Irish men condemned to the gallows, specifically for service in the West Indies. Depsite being formed of prisoners, the battalion proved effective and was heavily engaged at Martinique and Guadeloupe, earning praise for their gallant conduct during these engagements. It was later disbanded in 1819, when there no longer existed any threat to British interests in the West Indies.

The Royal York Rangers were part of the expeditionary force of 10,000 men under command of Lieutenant-General Sir George Beckwith that disembarked for Martinique in January 1809, intending to divest Martinique of French rule and thus protect Britian's trade in the West Indies. The British troops landed on both the northern and southern coasts of the island, with 600 soldiers of the Royal York Rangers under Major Henderson landing on the south-western peninsula to secure entry to the captial, Fort-de-France. The British forces pushed inwards, successfully occupying nearly the whole of Martinique by early February. The sole exception to this was Fort Desaix, which fell after being subjected to a siege of constant bombardment lasting 15 days.

After the capture of Martinique, the British looked to the nearby island Guadeloupe, the final French colony in the Americas. Beckwith mustered 6,700 men, including the Royal York Rangers, to invade the island following the same northern and southern plan as in Martinique, disembarking at Guadeloupe on 27 January 1810. The island's forces had been weakened by an intense British blockade, and as troops pushed in they realised that many of the fortifications had been abandoned. The French governor General Ernouf did meet the British on the plain of Malabar outside the capital of Basse-Terre, where a company of the Royal York Rangers participated in a bayonet charge, resulting in the loss of nine Officers and 105 men killed or wounded. Ernouf was overwhelmed by superior forces and his capital was captured by the Royal Navy, leaving him no choice but to surrender - which he did on 5 February, little over a week after the British landed on the island.

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Estimate
£800 to £1,200

Starting price
£800