Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Crimea Medal awarded to Sergeant J. Eccleshall, 17th Lancers, who served with the Light Brigade at the time of the Charge at Balaklava in October 1854, and who died at sea on his return from India in 1860

Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Serjt. J. Eccleshall. 17th. Lancers.) officially impressed naming, suspension claw loose, contact marks and edge bruising, very fine £800-£1,200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers.

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Provenance: Sotheby’s 1879; Murray Collection 1891; Glendining’s 1912; Glendining’s 1921.

John Eccleshall was born around 1825, the son of the Lodgekeeper at Edgbaston reservoir. He enlisted into the 17th Lancers in Birmingham in 1843 and in June 1854, sailed for Varna where the regiment was made part of the Light Brigade under Lord Cardigan. Of their part in the Crimea Campaign and the Charge of the Light Brigade in particular, this needs little retelling here, suffice it to say that in the Charge the 17th Lancers had three officers and 25 men killed, and six officers and 55 men wounded, at Balaklava on 25 October 1854. In addition, eight men were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Eccleshall served with the 17th Lancers as Hospital Sergeant throughout the war in the Crimea, January 1854 to January 1856. Given the nature of his rank, Eccleshall is unlikely to have ridden in the charge and indeed is not recorded as having done so in any of the lists of chargers that have been compiled and published over the years. Despite this, it is worth noting that one man of similar rank, Hospital Sergeant Major G. Archer, 11th Hussars, is recognised as having ridden in the charge by L. W. Crider in his ‘In Search of the Light Brigade’ on the evidence of his attendance at the annual dinner in 1892. Eccleshall’s early demise ensured he would never be in a position to attend any such commemorative events.

In any case, Eccleshall would more than likely have been significantly involved in the aftermath of the charge, dealing with the wounded as they returned.

Eccleshall embarked for home with the 17th Lancers in May 1856 and left again with them for India in October 1857 aboard the SS Great Britain. He served with the 17th Lancers in India but remained with the hospital staff at the regimental depot at Kirkee and was not with the squadrons which entered the theatre of war; consequently, he did not receive the Indian Mutiny medal.
In 1860, he was one of a large number of men of the 17th Lancers, amongst others, sent home aboard the Belgravia as invalids; perhaps as a result of the regiment's notorious cholera-stricken ‘death march’ in 1858 en route to Secunderabad. Sergeant Major Eccleshall died on the journey home on 13 May 1860, aged 35 years.

Sold with copied medal roll extracts (which confirm his entitlement to all 4 clasps) and other research.