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Auction: 25002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 11

(x) 'I have never witnessed a more gallant charge.'

Thus spoke the Duke of Wellington to Colonel Wallace of the 88th Foot after their charge at the Battle of Busaco

The M.G.S.M. awarded to Serjeant W. Gunner, 88th Regiment of Foot, who saw much hard-fought action with his Regiment in the Peninsula Campaign, and who later suffered a gun shot wound to his left shoulder at the Battle of Badajoz and was subsequently discharged

Military General Service 1793-1814, 5 clasps, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes D'Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz (W. Gunner, Serjt. 88th Foot.), a few minor edge knocks, very fine

Provenance:
Glendining’s, May 1937.

William Gunner was born at Crondall, Hampshire circa 1783. He enlisted with the 88th (Connaught Rangers) Regiment of Foot in September 1803 at the age of twenty after working as a labourer. Gunner went on to serve with his unit for nearly a decade, much of which was spent overseas fighting in the Peninsula Campaign against Napoleon’s forces. He served as Serjeant in the 1st Battalion and was present at a number of engagements.

He first saw action at the Battle of Talavera on 28 July 1809, where his unit was part of Colonel Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin’s brigade. They had been posted ahead of the main body of the army, but were forced to fall back when surprised by a French force that inflicted 400 casualties. Nonetheless, Donkin’s brigade reformed and the following day during the main attack were positioned on the Cerro de Medellin ridge, where they again faced heavy casualties from enemy bombardment.

The unit was next engaged at the Battle of Busaco the following year in September 1810. Here, they were commanded by Colonel Alexander Wallace in Major General Thomas Picton’s 3rd Division. Despite being outnumbered, they met and charged the flank of the French infantry along the crest of the Busaco ridge, successfully forcing the enemy back down the slope. A witness to the 88th’s charge, Wellington made the comment reproduced in the title in praise of the unit’s conduct.

The Connaught Rangers once again distinguished themselves on the field of battle at Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811. The Regiment led several units in Wellington’s counterattack and broke the French column. After driving back the enemy infantry, the 88th Foot helped to fortify the village of Almeida against further attacks. A member of the Regiment gave the following account of what he witnessed at Almeida:

‘The town presented a shocking sight: our Highlanders lay dead in heaps, while the other regiments, though less remarkable in dress, were scarcely so in the number of their slain. The French grenadiers, with their immense caps and gaudy plumes, lay in piles of ten and twenty together - some dead, others wounded, with barely strength sufficient to move, their exhausted state and the weight of their cumbrous accoutrements making it impossible for them to crawl out of the dreadful fire of grape and round shot which the enemy poured into the town. The Highlanders had been driven to the churchyard at the very top of the village, and were fighting with the French grenadiers across the graves and tombstones.’ (Taken from A History of the Peninsular War, Volume IV, by Sir Charles Oman)

They were next present at the siege and storming of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812. During the assault on the fort on 19 January, the 88th Foot joined the storming of the main breach to the northwest. They were met with heavy artillery fire from two large cannons, one of which the unit was responsible for taking, allowing the division to storm the city.

Gunner was to suffer at the hands of the enemy a few months later in the spring during the siege of Badajoz. He suffered a gun shot wound to his left shoulder on the very last day of the siege on 6 April, when the British successfully stormed the French garrison. The 88th Foot were once again part of Piction’s 3rd Division, and were charged with storming the castle from across the Guadiana River. Despite heavy resistance from the French they succeeded in breaching the castle. It is possible that Gunner was shot during the intense moments spent scaling the fortress, at which time scores of men were wounded by enemy fire.

Gunner was one of the 135 casualties sustained by the ranks of the 88th Foot at Badajoz. His must have been a significant injury, as after serving with the Colours for over nine years he was discharged on 6 October 1813 in consequence of his wound. Upon his discharge, the regimental Adjutant noted that Gunner was ‘of excellent character, always attentive and Regular in the performance of his Duties.’; sold together with copied discharge document.



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Sold for
£2,400

Starting price
£1100