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Auction: 26001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 20

The Military General Service Medal awarded to Captain M. A. Stanley, 20th (East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot, who formed part of the famous Guard on the former Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on St. Helena

Military General Service 1793-1814, 3 clasps, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes (M. A. Stanly, Capt. 20th Foot), note surname spelling, obverse highlights lightly polished, otherwise good very fine

Mark Anthony Stanley/Stanly is confirmed upon the roll with entitlement to this Medal and clasps - a unique combination to an officer of the 20th Foot, and one of only five men of the Regiment to make this claim.

The 20th (East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot saw much action in the early and later stages of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: after Flanders (1799) and Egypt (1801) they next participated in the Battle of Maida (1806) before embarking for Portugal in 1808 and fighting at Vimeiro (1808) and Corunna (1809).

Stanley, meanwhile, was commissioned Ensign (without purchase) in the 100th Regiment of Foot in 1809 (London Gazette, 17 June 1809, p. 892 refers), before being promoted Lieutenant in the 2nd Garrison Battalion in August 1810. From there, at some point he transferred into the 20th Foot, with whom he fought at the battles of Vittoria, Orthes, and in the Pyrenees.

Returning home at the conclusion of the Peninsular War, in 1819 the regiment had the unusual distinction of being sent on garrison duty to the island of St. Helena, where they were to guard arguably the world's most famous prisoner at that time - Napoleon Bonaparte. Stanley, still as a Lieutenant, is noted as being present on St. Helena from March 1820 (A St. Helena Who's Who, Arnold Chaplin, p.31, refers) and the 20th played a significant part in the last days of the former Emperor - the Regimental Surgeon, Archibald Arnott, paid him many professional visits during his final illness and two of Stanley's brother officers (Captains Lutyens and Crokat) successively acted as Orderly Officer at Longwood House. Undoubtedly Napoleon's situation and character must have been a great topic of conversation in the Officers Mess of the 20th, with Stanley having his fair share of the discussion and, upon the former Emperor's death, his coffin was borne by 12 men of the Grenadier Company of the regiment.

Stanley died on 17 October 1850 at Rosehill House, near Barnstaple, at the age of 64; a notification of his death appeared in the North Devon Journal that day, which stated that he was '...a truly good man, and much esteemed by all who knew him.'

Sold together with a small silver regimental badge bearing the numerals 'XX' below a crown and encircled within a wreath, and three French military buttons, circa 19thC., converted into a brooch - these perhaps mementos of his time on St. Helena.

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Estimate
£1,000 to £1,400

Starting price
£800