Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Vittoria, St. Sebastian (John Bell, 59th Foot) good very fine £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late John F. Goodwin.

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John Bell was born at Whitley, Cumberland, circa 1790. He enlisted into the 59th Foot in 1809, a shoemaker and a volunteer from the Westmorland Militia. He was discharged on 24 January 1816, in consequence of ‘amputation of the right leg at the thigh from wounds received in action at St. Sebastian, on 31 August, 1813’. An Out-Pensioner of Chelsea Hospital he died on 22 February 1855, aged 77 years, and was then residing in the workhouse at Bishop’s Wearmouth, Sunderland, County Durham (Ref: Sudden Death, Sudden Glory, by David Ingham). Sold with copy discharge papers.