Naval General Service 1793-1840, 3 clasps, 1 June 1794, St. Vincent, Nile (William Beadle) with silver buckle brooch bar, claw tightened, slight edge bruising and contact marks, very fine £8,000-£9,000

Provenance: Whitehead Collection, 1869; Glendining’s, March 1992; Spink, April 1999 and November 2006.

William Beadle, from Plymouth, Devon, was born c.1781/82. He joined H.M.S. Barfleur on 15 January 1794 as Servant and as such was present aboard the ship at the battle of the ‘Glorious First of June’, 1794. He joined H.M.S. Goliath as a Boy 2nd Class, aged 14 years, in January 1797 and served on the ship until November 1799. As such he served at the battles of St. Vincent, 14 February 1797 and the Nile, 1 August 1798. In November 1799 he was discharged to Minorca Hospital. He is listed in the Greenwich Out-Patients Register dated November 1828, aged 46 years, listed as having lost his leg. William Beadle died in 1849.

H.M.S. Barfleur was a 90 gun, second-rate ship of the line; H.M.S. Goliath a 74 gun, third-rate ship of the line. One officer and 13 ratings from the Barfleur were awarded the clasp, ‘1 June 1794’ from a total of 538 clasps awarded. Three officers and 17 ratings from the Goliath were awarded the clasp, St. Vincent’ from a total of 346 clasps awarded, and six officers and 19 ratings from the same ship were awarded the clasp, ‘Nile’ from a total of 326 awarded. In the latter battle, it was Goliath under Captain Foley, having judged there was enough sea room, that led several of Nelson’s ships on a course between the anchored line of French warships and the shore, a move which sealed the fate of the French squadron. William Beadle is a unique name in the published N.G.S. rolls.

With copied muster extracts and other research.