The superb ‘Heavy Brigade’ D.C.M. group of three awarded to Private J. R. Aslett, 1st Royal Dragoons, who lost an arm to cannon shot during the famous charge at Balaklava on 25 October 1854

Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R. (James R. Aslett. 1st Rl. Drags.) officially impressed naming; Crimea 1854-56, 2 clasps, Balaklava, Sebastopol (Pvte. Jas. R. Aslett 1st. RL. Drs.) Hunt & Roskell engraved naming; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed as issued, fitted with small ring for suspension, mounted for wear, all with contemporary silver top riband buckles, minor edge bruising overall, otherwise very fine or better (3) £8,000-£10,000

Spink, June 1987, (Lot 353 £1950) as part of a collection of Crimea medals which included the Light Brigade D.C.M. group to S/Maj G. Loy Smith, 11th Hrs, (Lot 354 £2900) which sold in these rooms in April 2006 for £45,000; Dix Noonan Webb, December 2016.

D.C.M. recommendation dated 1 January 1855.

James Richard Aslett was born in Farnham, Surrey, and attested for the 1st Royal Dragoons at Westminster on 20 October 1853. He served with the Regiment in the Crimea, and took part in the famous charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaklava on 25 October 1854. He was severely wounded during the charge, and was ‘disabled by amputation of right shoulder joint after cannon shot wound received at Balaklava’ (Service Papers refer). The field surgery that he underwent was further recorded in Medical and Surgical History of British Army in Turkey and Crimea during the Russian War, 1858, ‘James Aslett, aged 19, had his right humerus smashed by a round shot, it became necessary to remove the arm from the shoulder-joint, the amputation was done immediately after the injury. He was sent to Scutari, where the stump soon united without a bad symptom.’

The D.C.M. awarded to Aslett was initially sent out to the Crimea in March 1855, only to have to be returned for presentation to the U.K. on 14 May. Aslett had preceded its return and was discharged ‘Medically Unfit’ on 2 May 1855.

One of eight D.C.M.s awarded to the Regiment for the Crimean Campaign, only two of which were awarded to recipients who were wounded at Balaklava and therefore unquestionably confirmed as ‘chargers’.