Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, Gluckstadt 5 Jany 1814, Algiers (Thos. Saxton.) minor cabinet marks, nearly extremely fine £4,000-£5,000

Provenance: Spink 1886; Glendining’s, November 1987.

Approximately 42 clasps issued for Gluckstadt, only two in combination with Algiers.

Thomas Saxton is confirmed on the rolls as a Sergeant, Royal Marines, aboard H.M.S. Desirée at the capture of the fortress of Gluckstadt, near the mouth of the Elbe on 5 January 1814, and as a Colour-Sergeant, Royal Marines, aboard Lord Exmouth’s flagship H.M.S. Queen Charlotte during the bombardment of Algiers in August 1816.

From late December 1813 a British Squadron under the command of Captain A. Farquhar, comprising H.M. Ships Desirée, Hearty, Blazer, Piercer, Shamrock, Redbreast, and eight gun-boats (the seven from Cuxhaven plus No. 12), supported Swedish forces under the command of General Baron de Boye against the Danes in the attack on the town and fortress of Glückstadt at the Elbe river during the War of the Sixth Coalition. The British arrived on 23 December and by 25 December had erected a battery of two 32-pounder guns (They had landed six but the poor quality of the roads meant that only two were in place). To support the bombardment on the next day, Farquhar sent in the gunboats and the brigs, whose armament he had reinforced with two 18-pounders each from Desirée. The bombardment continued to the 28th. Glückstadt having failed to surrender, Farquhar then established three more batteries, one of two 18-pounders, one of four 32-pounders, and one of the two 13" mortars captured at Cuxhaven. An English rocket brigade under Lieutenant Amherst Wright also contributed to the bombardment. These batteries commenced bombarding the town on 1 January 1814, keeping it up for the next two days. On 4 January Farquhar sent in a flag of truce and, after negotiations, the governor surrendered on 5 January.