Orders, Decorations and Medals

Seven: Admiral G. S. Bosanquet, Royal Navy, twice mentioned in despatches and twice severely wounded in action during the Taeping Rebellion 1862-63

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Actg. Lieut. R.N.) officially impressed naming; China 1857-60, 3 clasps, Canton 1857, Taku Forts 1858, Taku Forts 1860, unnamed as issued; Egypt & Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp (Capt. R.N. H.M.S. “Northumberland”); Order of the Medjidie, 5th class breast badge, silver, gold and enamels; Order of Osmanie, 3rd class neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue; Khedive’s Star 1882, one point bent and enamel chipped on the Osmanie, otherwise good very fine or better and a rare group (7) £1200-1500

George Stanley Bosanquet was born on 18 April 1835, and educated at the Royal Naval Academy, Gosport. He served as Midshipman and Acting Mate of Rodney in the Black Sea during the Russian war, until appointed, December 1854, Acting Lieutenant of Spitfire; engaged at the taking of Kertch and Yenikale, at the entrance of the Sea of Azoff; and afterwards as Acting Lieutenant of Rodney in the Naval Brigade until the close of the siege of Sebastopol (Crimean and Turkish Medals, Sebastopol Clasp, and 5th Class Medjidie). As Lieutenant of the Calcutta, flagship, he was engaged at the bombardment and capture of the forts at the entrance of the Peiho river, May 1858; and as Lieutenant in command of the Woodcock, gunboat, he was engaged with the north forts at the entrance to the Peiho river, 1860, when they were captured by the combined English and French land forces (China Medal, 2 Clasps).

In the combined operations against the Taeping rebels, he was in command of the Flamer, gunboat, and served on shore at the taking of Min-hong, Kahding, Na-jow, and Cho-lin, &c.; severely wounded when in command of the field guns, in the attack on the city of Fung-wha, 9 October 1862 (Mentioned in despatches). It was during this action that Able Seaman George Hinckley, of the Sphinx, won the Victoria Cross for gallantly carrying two badly wounded officers to safety. It seems ironic that a Victoria Cross was given during this campaign, yet that authorities refused to sanction the award of a campaign medal on the grounds that our forces were not officially at war with the Taeping rebels. Bosanquet was subsequently employed in various operations against piratical vessels in the neighbourhood of Chusan in 1863, and was again severely wounded, 28 July 1863, in an attack by rebels on Flamer in Hang-chow Bay (Mentioned in despatches, Gold Medal from Imperial Government of China, and promoted to Commander for distinguished services). Captain of Northumberland during the Egyptian war of 1882 (Egyptian Medal, Khedive’s Bronze Star, Osmanie 3rd Class). Bosanquet was A.D.C. to Queen Victoria from 27 October 1884 to January 1887. Promoted to Vice-Admiral in July 1892, he retired in 1894, and became Retired Admiral in 1898. Admiral Bosanquet died on 12 January 1914.