Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Colr. Sert. Wm. Troop: 46th. Ft.) engraved naming, edge bruising and contact marks, nearly very fine £160-£200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 46th Foot and its Successor Units.

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William Troop was born in Ballybantry, County Antrim, Ireland, around 1817. He attested at Belfast for the 46th Regiment of Foot on 17 July 1835 and likely marched from Belfast to Enniskillen on 16 May 1836 when his Regiment was ordered to furnish detachments in aid of the civil power. Advanced Corporal on 8 January 1838, Troop witnessed postings to Gibraltar and Barbados, being encamped on the Savannah until 18 April 1842. Transferred to Stone Barracks, he was convicted by Regimental Court Martial of being drunk on duty, and was reduced in rank on 1 June 1842.

Embarked for Nova Scotia aboard Resistance on 23 February 1845, Troop spent four months quartered in the South Barracks at Halifax before embarking with Apollo for Eastern Canada. Transferred to the steamer Canada at Quebec, the regiment arrived at Montreal on 23 July and proceeded aboard the Prince Albert for La Prairie. Arriving at Tête de Pont Barracks, Troop was raised Sergeant on New Year’s Day 1847. Sent to Nova Scotia, he finally returned home to England in the summer of 1848, and was thus present to witness the controversy relating to the bullying of junior officers which delayed the departure of the Regiment for the Crimea; the affair was later detailed in The Murder of a Regiment by Major Colin Robins:
‘Excessive ragging, to the point of bullying, of one officer by his colleagues was unfortunately not unknown in the Victorian army and Perry, goaded repeatedly by Greer, eventually attacked his tormentor with a silver candlestick.’

Sent to the Crimea, Troop was one of a handful of men to survive the winter of 1854-55 relatively unscathed and without a day of sickness. Returned to Winchester, Troop was discharged after 21 years of service in the rank of Staff Sergeant of Militia. He went on to serve a brief spell with the 2nd Royal Cheshire Militia at their Macclesfield Depot, before settling into family life at Crompton Road, Macclesfield.

Sold with a file of copied research.