Orders, Decorations and Medals

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Busaco, Salamanca (Fras. Lawson, 11th Foot) with silver buckle brooch bar, edge bruising, very fine £1000-1200

Ex Sotheby’s, November 1984; D.N.W. 25 September 2008.

Francis Lawson was born in Newry, Co. Down in 1788. Employed at a Bakery, he enlisted into the 11th Regiment c.1807. With the regiment he served in the Walcheren campaign during 1809, before proceeding to the Iberian Peninsula in 1810, seeing service at the battles of Busaco, 16 May 1811 and Salamanca, 22 July 1812. In the latter action, serving in Captain Hamiliton’s Company, Lawson was severely wounded, suffering a gunshot wound to the left knee. As a consequence of his wound he was discharged in August 1813. Recovering somewhat he eventually received an appointment as a Writing- Clerk in the Custom House, Newry, a position he held for some 10 years. He later became a Publican, Ship Broker and Commission Agent. He died at Marley Grange, near Dublin, on 19 July 1874.

With a copied hand written narrative of Private Lawson’s life, written by his son; also with typescript.