Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Vittoria, Pyrenees (Joseph Dornford, Volr. 95th Foot) good very fine £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Rifle Brigade and Affiliated Regiments from the collection formed by Michael Haines.

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Joseph Dornford, whose life is recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography, was born on 9 January 1794, the son of Josiah Dornford of Deptford, Kent. Dornford entered young at Trinity College, Cambridge, which in 1811 he suddenly left to serve as a volunteer in the Peninsular War. A contemporary stated that 'He would rather fly to the ends of the earth and seek the company of cannibals or wild beasts than be bound to a life of tea and twaddle.' He saw some service with the 95th Rifles, and on his return home he entered Wadham College, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. in 1816. In 1817 he was elected to a Michel fellowship at Queen's and in 1819 to a fellowship at Oriel, where he graduated M.A. in 1820. In that year he joined Dr. Hamel on the well-known ascent of Mont Blanc in which three guides were killed. He was elected tutor, dean and proctor of the University, 1830-31, and in 1832 was presented by his college to the rectory of Plymtree. In 1847 he was collated by Bishop Phillpotts prebendary of Exeter Cathedral. In his bearing Dornford was more of a soldier than a priest, and his talk ran much on war. He was a man of strong will, generous impulses and pugnacious temper. He died at Plymtree on 18 January 1868, aged 74. Four officers of the 95th Rifles received this two-clasp combination.