Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 9022 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 121

x Naval General Service 1793-1840, three clasps, Copenhagen 1801, Banda Neira, Java (Samuel Eccleston.), good very fine Estimate £ 4,500-5,000 Samuel Eccleston served as Corporal Royal Marines in H.M.S. Ardent as part of Nelson´´s attack on Copenhagen, where she took second position in the leading line, 2.4.1801; Eccleston served as the same rank in H.M.S. Caroline for the assault and capture of the strongly fortified Dutch island of Banda Neira, the main island in the Banda group in the Moluccas, by 140 seamen and marines from H.M. Ships Caroline, Piemontaise and Barracouta together with about 40 soldiers of the Madras European Regiment, 9.8.1810. The island declared impregnable by the Dutch, was defended by at least ten sea batteries and was garrisoned by 1500 regular troops and militia. Captain Christopher Cole of the Caroline received a Small Naval Gold Medal for this action; Eccleston served as the same rank and in the same vessel as part of the assistance given by the Navy in the capture of the island of Java, from July until its surrender September 1811. Samuel Eccleston (1780-1849), born Heigham, Norfolk; enlisted Royal Marines, 1797, and joined H.M.S. Ardent, February 1799; ´´Ecclestone´´ was drafted to H.M.S. St. George, June 1801, and the following month he returned to Chatham Barracks as part of No. 70 Company; joined H.M.S. Caroline, November 1802, and was to spend the next ten years in service with her; promoted Sergeant August 1805, before losing his stripes 3 years later, only to rise to Corporal again in September 1811; Caroline was paid off January 1811, and ´´Ecclestone´´ returned to Chatham once more before being discharged in the following month; he was made an "In Pensioner" in Greenwich Hospital, 6.7.1848.

Sold for
£7,000