Orders, Decorations and Medals

The important Peninsula War medal awarded to Colonel Peter Hawker, 14th Light Dragoons, who was severely wounded by a ‘rifle-ball’ at Talavera; an accomplished musician and noted sportsman he published his Journal of an Officer during the Recent Campaigns in Portugal and Spain (1810), and Instructions to Young Sportsmen in All that Relates to Guns and Shooting (1814), the latter ran to nine editions before his death and became one of the best known 19th century sporting books

Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Talavera (Peter Hawker, Capt. 14th Lt. Dgns.) minor edge bruises and contact marks, otherwise very fine £4000-5000

Peter Hawker was born on 24 December 1786, the son of Colonel Peter Ryves Hawker, of Longparish House, Hampshire. He was educated at Eton and entered the army in 1801 with the purchase of a commission as a Cornet in the 1st Dragoons. He transferred to the 14th Light Dragoons in 1803, soon gaining a Captaincy, again by purchase. Hawker notes in his diary that, ‘I was a Captain of Dragoons soon after I was seventeen years old, but paid dearer for it than anyone in the service.’

Hawker arrived at Lisbon in Portugal on Christmas eve of 1808. On 12 May 1809 Hawker, after crossing the river Douro, led his squadron in a charge against French infantry that had taken refuge in the town of Oporto. Having reached the outskirts of the town, Hawker describes the events that followed in his Journal:

‘Our infantry here extended along the road. We then, forming up in threes, passed all our lines at a full gallop; whilst they greeted us with one continued huzza. After this, going almost at speed, enveloped in a cloud of dust, for nearly two miles, we cleared our infantry, and that of the French appeared. A strong body was drawn up in close column, with bayonets ready to receive us in front. On each flank of the road was a stone wall, bordered outwardly by trees; with other walls, projecting in various directions; so as to give every advantage to the operations of infantry, and to screen those by whom we were annoyed. On our left, in particular, numbers were posted in line, with their pieces rested on the wall which flanked the road, ready to give us a running fire as we passed. This could not but be effectual, as our left men by threes were nearly close to the muzzles of the muskets, and barely out of the reach of a coup de sabre. In a few seconds, the ground was covered with men and horses: notwithstanding these obstacles, we penetrated the battalion opposed to us; the men of which, relying on their bayonets, did not give way till we were nearly close upon it, when they fled in great confusion. For some time this contest was kept up, hand to hand; and, for the time it lasted, was severe.

‘After many efforts, we succeeded in cutting off three hundred, most of whom were secured as prisoners: but our own loss was very considerable. Our squadron consisted of scarcely forty file; and the brunt of the action, of course, fell the heaviest on the troop in front: of the fifty-two men composing it, ten were killed, eleven severely wounded (besides others slightly), and six taken prisoners: of the four officers engaged, three were on the wounded list.

‘For my own part, my horse being shot under me, the moment after a ball had grazed my upper lip, I had to scramble my way on foot, amidst the killed and wounded - among whom the enemy, from the side walls, were continually firing - and this effected my escape from this agreeable situation. On the approach of our infantry, the French brigade was compelled to retire. Our few remaining men, coming threes about, brought with them the prisoners in triumph.’

This spirited action earned for the regiment the battle honour ‘Douro’ and the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief. At the beginning of July 1809 the regiment advanced into Spain where, on the 22nd they encamped near Talavera, recently evacuated by the retreating French army. In the general action that took place on the 27th and 28th, the 14th Light Dragoons were formed up with the 23rd Light Dragoons and the 1st German Hussars. ‘This brigade,’ Hawker relates, ‘was ordered to charge; but the enemy, having soon formed in two solid squares, were too well prepared for their reception; and, to increase the disadvantages under which this attack was made, there was, between these regiments and the enemy, a large ditch. Notwithstanding the confusion this occasioned, the 23rd Dragoons persevered in the charge; and, though with a most serious loss, penetrated the French battalions.’

About an hour before the close of the action on the 28th, Hawker received a severe wound by a shot through the pelvis by a ‘rifle-ball’. Hawker remained sick in bed in Talavera whilst the army retreated from that place to Badajos, Merida, Campo Mayo and elsewhere. On 3 August Hawker learnt that the French were once again approaching the town, where there remained a large number of badly wounded soldiers. Preferring freedom to captivity, Hawker decided to escape the town and make his own way to safety despite the severity of his wound. After an epic journey of some 370 miles, vividly recounted in his Journal, which was completed in eighteen days, Hawker, in company with another wounded officer who was retreating with his family, arrived at Lisbon on 20 August where he awaited a convoy for passage home: ‘...I was in torture the whole way. The hip bone, which a rifle-ball had gone through and shattered, and the muscles of my back, where it was then lodged.’

On 16 September he left with a convoy and three days later, whilst becalmed, he was attended to by a Surgeon from another ship in the convoy, who, ‘after examining my wound,’ related Hawker, ‘he sent the boat back for his Assistant and instruments, and opened the muscles of my back, where it was probable a mortification would speedily have taken place; and had not this operation been performed, I should have died on the voyage. - I became so faint that they were obliged to postpone doing any thing farther that day: from what was effected, I found almost immediate relief. 20th. -The Surgeons came on board again, and with some difficulty extracted the ball, which had been considerably flattened by passing through the muscles and bone... On the 28th (the very day two months from the battle of Talavera) I happily reached my final destination.’

Hawker retired from active service in 1813, but by the recommendation of the Duke of Clarence he was made Major in 1815, and then Lieutenant-Colonel in 1821, of the North Hampshire Militia. A man of wide interests, he was a good musician as well as a keen shot and active sportsman. In 1818 he studied harmony and composition at the London academy of J. B. Logier, and in 1821 was a piano student of H. J. Bertini in Paris. He composed much music, and in 1820 patented his invention of hand moulds to facilitate pianoforte playing. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 some improvements in firearms manufacture which Hawker devised attracted attention, and he hoped in vain that they would be adopted by the War Office. He subsequently became a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Hampshire. Colonel Peter Hawker died on 7 August 1853.

He is best known today for his published works on the sports of shooting, wildfowling and fishing. Hawker published his Advice to Young Sportsmen in 1814, a popular work having nine imprints in his lifetime with the latest paper edition printed in 1975. Forty years after Hawker's death an Australian book reviewer stated that ‘Probably no book on the subject of sport ever enjoyed so wide or so long sustained a popularity’.