The Connolly family group comprising Naval General Service medals to General W. H. Connolly, Royal Marines, and Commander R. L. Connolly, Royal Navy, and the Boer War and Great War group to Colonel W. H. Connolly, Royal Artillery

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, St. Vincent (W. H. Connolly, 2nd Lieut. R.M.) light scratch in obverse field, otherwise nearly extremely fine

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Nile (Richard Lock Connolly) nearly extremely fine

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 6 clasps, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Wittebergen (Lt. Col., R.F.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lt. Colonel, R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals (Bt. Col.) nearly extremely fine (6) £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval and Indian Marine Medals from the Collection of John Tamplin.

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William Hallett Connolly was born in about 1782. Previous to joining the Royal Marines he served a few months in the Royal Navy, during which time he was engaged in several minor affairs on the French coast and witnessed Lord Bridport’s action with the French fleet on 23 June 1795. Connolly’s commission as Second Lieutenant in the Royal Marines was dated 8 May 1795 and he was promoted to Lieutenant on 7 April 1796. He was present in H.M.S. Excellent in 1796 at the evacuation of Bastia, the capture of the island of Capria and of Porto Ferrajo, the blockade of Toulon and the destruction of Martello Tower in San Fiorenzo Bay. Whilst First Lieutenant of Royal Marines on board the Excellent, 74, Captain Cuthbert Collingwood, he contributed to the victory gained by Sir John Jervis off Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797. His Naval General Service medal is one of three to officers in this ship.

In October 1798 he was appointed to Warrior, 74, and in this ship was frequently engaged with the Spanish batteries and gun-boats off Cadiz, and witnessed the capture, on 18 February 1800, of the Géneraux, 74, bearing the flag of the French Rear-Admiral Perrée who was sailing with a convoy to the relief of Malta; also the capture of the Baudine and two corvettes off Toulon in 1800. In the Hannibal, 74, which he joined under Captain Solomon Ferris on 5 April 1801, he participated in the action off Algeciras on 6 July 1801, on which occasion the Hannibal having grounded under the enemy’s batteries was compelled, after a long and heroic resistance and a loss of 143 killed and wounded, to strike her colours. Among the wounded was Connolly, severely, who was also taken prisoner. He subsequently received a reward from the Patriotic Fund for his wounds.

Being exchanged shortly afterwards together with the remainder of the ship’s company, he was appointed to the Penelope, a frigate commanded by Captain William Broughton, and was frequently engaged on the Dutch coast, and took a prominent part in Sir Sydney Smith’s action with the enemy’s batteries and flotilla on 16 May 1804, the Penelope being so much cut up that she was obliged to return to England for repair. Connolly was promoted Captain on 15 August 1805, and in 1807 was appointed to the Brunswick, in which ship he accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen in that year. In 1808 he was present at the embarkation of the Spanish troops under the Marquis de la Romana at Nyeborg.

In 1811 he served in the Orion, 74, in the Baltic, and, in October of that year joined the Princess Caroline, from which ship he was landed with his detachment of Marines at Scheveling, for the support of the Prince of Orange, being present at the occupation of the Hague in 1813 and 1814. The Marines held possession of the Hague to protect the inhabitants from the atrocities of the French, and he remained there until the arrival of troops from England. While belonging to this ship he was on one occasion left behind in sick quarters in England, and on his passage to rejoin her in the Hamadryad, 36, he was present when she was attacked by two privateers, one of which she sank, and the other she beat off. In 1814 he disembarked from Princess Caroline and did not afterwards serve afloat.

Connolly was promoted Brevet Major on 12 August 1819. He was promoted Major in the Royal Marines, Woolwich, 9 April 1829, and Lieutenant-Colonel on 16 April 1832. He was further promoted Colonel in the Army and Second-Commandant at Chatham on 10 July 1837, and Colonel-Commandant of the Woolwich Division on 26 August 1839. He retired on full pay in 1842, was promoted Major-General on 9 November 1846, Lieutenant-General on 20 June 1854, and, finally, General on 20 June 1855. By his wife, Sarah, he had issue of at least five sons, all of whom served their country. General William Connolly died at Southsea on 20 June 1861 aged 79.

Richard Lock Connolly was born in Portsmouth on 10 July 1785, younger brother to William Hallett Connolly. He entered the Royal Navy in September 1795 as a First Class Volunteer on board H.M.S. Theseus, 74, and in this ship, which bore the flag of Sir Horatio Nelson for some time, he assisted at the bombardment of Cadiz in 1797, accompanied the ensuing expedition to Teneriffe, and fought under Captain R. W. Miller at the battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798. Connolly is confirmed on the medal roll for the Nile and was borne on the ship’s books in the rate of Able Seaman, one of 15 clasps to this ship.

Connolly next joined the Emerald, 36, Captain T. M. Waller, in which ship he was present, as Midshipman, at the blockade of Alexandria. Between January 1801 and February 1805 he served on the West India, Halifax and Home stations in the Prince of Wales, 98, bearing the flag of Sir Robert Calder, the Driver, Leander and Lapwing, all commanded by Captain F. W. Fane, and the Hibernia, 110, Flag-ship of Lord Gardner. As Sub-Lieutenant of the Tigress, gun-brig, he came into frequent collision with the Boulogne flotilla, and was so severely wounded as to elicit a pecuniary award from the Patriotic Fund.

He was appointed a Lieutenant on 29 January 1807, and next appointed to the Electra, 18, on the Mediterranean station where he was present in February 1808 at the evacuation of the small fortress of Scylla in Lower Calabria. A short while later, on 25 March 1808, he was wrecked in the Electra at the entrance of Port Augusta, between Syracusa and Messina. He was subsequently appointed, 18 September 1811, to the Venerable, 74, off Cherbourg; on 15 February 1813 to the Royal William, 84, Flag-ship of Sir Richard Bickerton at Spithead; on 27 July 1813 and 23 November 1814 as Flag-Lieutenant on the Prince, 98, and Akbar, 50, Flag-ship off Flushing and at Halifax and Bermuda of Rear-Admirals Sir T. B. Martin and E. Griffith; and finally on 11 September 1818 to the Ramilles, 74, at Portsmouth, where he served until 1821.

Connolly was promoted Commander on the Retired List on 21 February 1845. On 10 February 1851 he was granted an out-pension of Greenwich Hospital of £50 per annum. Commander Richard Connolly died at Bath on 4 January 1869, aged 83.

William Hallett Connolly was born on 4 November 1857, fourth son of Major-General Richard George Connolly, R.M., and grandson of General William Hallett Connolly, R.M. He was educated at the R.M.A., Woolwich, and was appointed a Gentleman Cadet on 24 September 1874. He was commissioned as Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 25 July 1877 and posted to 7 Brigade. With this Brigade he served for nearly four years. In December 1880 he went abroad to Natal, where he served in “N” Battery, 5 Brigade, in the Boer War of 1881 with the Natal Field Force. He was engaged in the battle of Laing’s Nek on 28 January 1881 when he was in command of two 7pdr guns which were manned by infantry. The following month he was posted with two 9pdr guns of N/5 on the heights over the Ingogo River.

On returning to England, Connolly served at Woolwich in “N” Battery, 4 Brigade, for a year before being posted to Hong Kong where he served until October 1885. He was promoted to Captain on 2 September 1885, and served again at Woolwich and Coventry before being posted to India in September 1888. He served in India until February 1896, having been promoted to Major on 1 April 1895. He subsequently served in Egypt from February 1896 until January 1898, for some time C.R.A. in Egypt. He had command of 44 Battery, R.F.A., for some eighteen months before he was sent to South Africa for the Boer War. Here, he first had command of a 15pdr Field Section Ammunition Column, later called a Corps troops Ammunition Column. He later commanded 82 Battery, R.F.A., and was present at the Relief of Kimberley on 15 February 1900. He took part in operations in the Orange Free State during February to May 1900, including those at Paardeberg, and the actions at poplar Grove, Driefontein, Vet River, and Zand River. He was in the Transvaal during May and June 1900, including the actions at Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill; also in the Orange River Colony from May to 29 November 1900, including the actions at Bethlehem, Wittebergen, Witpoort and Ladybrand. He subsequently served in Cape Colony and Orange River Colony from the end of November 1900 until 31 May 1902. He was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 29 November 1900 and mentioned in despatches London Gazette 8 February 1901. At the close of the war he was on the Staff and employed in the Remount Department, attached to the Remount Establishment at port Elizabeth from 20 February to 31 May 1902.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in November 1902, Connolly was appointed to command XXXV Brigade at Newbridge and later X Brigade at Bloemfontein. This latter appointment he held, in South Africa and India, until he retired in May 1908, having been promoted Brevet Colonel in May 1905. On the outbreak of the Great War, Connolly was re-employed from 23 September 1914 and later commanded the 63rd Brigade Divisional Artillery in the 12th (Eastern) Division. Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet Colonel William Connolly died in Richmond, Surrey, on 25 March 1941, aged 83.