Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Crimean War C.B. pair awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel George Carpenter, 41st Foot, who died of wounds received at the battle of Inkermann

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge in 22 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1828, the so called ‘economy issue’, with swivel-ring straight bar suspension but lacking ribbon buckle; Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Alma, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Lieut. Coln. Geoe. Carpenter, 41st Foot) contemporary engraved naming, the first with chipping to wreaths, otherwise good very fine (2) £1600-1800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The collection of medals to the 41st and 69th Regiments of Foot (The Welch Regiment) formed by the late colonel Dudley Thornton, CBE.

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C.B. London Gazette 10 July 1855.

George Carpenter was born in London on 12 May 1800. He was commissioned into the 53rd Foot as Ensign on 1 October 1818, becoming Lieutenant in March 1820, and Captain in October 1825. He transferred as Captain to the 41st Foot in July 1829 and, rising steadily through the ranks, became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 41st in December 1850. He commanded the 41st in the Crimea and died on 6 November 1854, of wounds received the day before at the battle of Inkermann. The following biography is taken from Memoirs of the Brave, by James Gibson, London 1855:

‘This lamented officer, who fell while gallantly commanding the 41st Regiment at the battle of Inkermann, on the 5th of November, was the only son of General Carpenter, of Great Cumberland Street, Hyde-Park. He was in his fifty-fourth year, and had seen considerable service, especially in India, and was twice shipwrecked while in command of troops. Colonel Carpenter met with so severe an accident by a fall from his horse, previous to the starting of the expedition to the Crimea, as might have fairly invalided a less determined soldier. He was able, however, to be the first of his division to cross the Alma, and gallantly to lead his regiment up the heights. At this battle he escaped without a wound, although his horse was shot in two places. He, however, found at the close, that his only son, Lieutenant Carpenter of the 7th Fusiliers, had fallen severely wounded, and had only time to see him taken on board one of the steamers, when the forced march on Balaklava began. Colonel Carpenter subsequently distinguished himself against the first sortie from Sebastopol, and finally, in the energetic and bold defence of the position at Inkermann (the brunt of which fell on the Second Division, to which Colonel Carpenter was attached, and the Guards), closed his services by a soldier’s death: “an honour” - as the correspondent of one of the newspapers says - to his country and his family, “but a deep disgrace to the Russians;” for we hear it is but too true that this brave man, when put hors de combat, was remorselessly assailed again and again by an enemy who pretended to civilisation. The Carpenter family was ennobled in one of its branches, and in the person of a successful soldier, by the revived title of Tyrconnel - of the branch from which the subject of this brief memoir descends. It is remarkable that, for several generations, it has consisted of individuals who have all been only sons, all George Carpenters, and all, more or less, have suffered and distinguished themselves in the service of their country.’