Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 5 clasps, Salamanca, Vittoria, St. Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive (John Walton, 38th. Foot) nearly extremely fine £1,600-£2,000

John Walton was born in Alstone, Northumberland, in 1790, and attested for the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot on 4 April 1809, having previously served in Northumberland Militia from 25 January 1808. He served with the 1st Battalion during the Walcheren Campaign in 1809, and then in the Peninsula, and was present at the battle of Salamanca, 22 July 1812, where the battalion suffered 2 officers and 14 men killed, and 12 officers and 115 men wounded. A Private soldier from the battalion recorded the action thus:
‘The French were in a square not more than 200 yards from us, as soon as we saw them we gave a shout, opened up a tremendous fire, and ran into them directly so that those in their front line were in a few minutes killed or taken prisoner. We then attacked their rear lines...’

Walton was shown as sick for 9 months after the battle of Salamanca, but returned to active service the following spring, and was present at the battle of Vittoria, 21 June 1813, and the siege and capture of the fortress of St. Sebastian- the battalion suffered 53 casualties in the failed attack on 25 July 1813, and a further 134 casualties in the successful storming of the fortress on 31 August 1813, including Walton, who suffered a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. He saw further service at the battles of Nivelle, 10 November 1813, and Nive, 9-13 December 1813, and returned to Cork on 10 September 1814. He was discharged to pension on 24 January 1815, ‘in consequence of gunshot wound through the shoulder received in action at St Sebastian’, after 5 years and 235 days’ service. He subsequently became an out-pensioner of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, an died in Carlisle on 20 February 1860.

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