Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A pair of original Peninsular War letters from Captain William Wainman, 14th Light Dragoons, in ink, three sides on single sheets of white paper, the remaining sides being folded for use as an envelope, the first dated ‘on the River Odour, Jany. 14th 1814’ and the second likewise on ‘Jany. 14th 1814’, and both addressed to ‘Walter Haines (?), Lower Gower Street, Bedford Square, London’, single black postal stamps and one with traces of red wax seal, the contents discussing his urgent requirement for more clothes and uniform ‘as I am naked’, and making reference to the prisoner exchange of Major Thomas Brotherton and Lieutenant Arthur Southwell, who had been captured on 13 December 1813

one torn and holed by seal, generally in good condition (2) £150-200

William Wainman was appointed a Lieutenant in the 14th Light Dragoons in December 1808 and first saw action at the battle of Talavera in the following year, where he was wounded. In fact, with the exception of the period October 1811 to May 1812, he remained on active service throughout the Peninsular War and was present at, among other actions, Busaco, Fuentes D’Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Orthes and Toulouse. He was placed on half-pay as a Captain in March 1816 and survived to claim his Military General Service Medal with eight clasps.