Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 3 clasps, Albuhera, Vittoria, Toulouse (James Walter, 57th Foot.) light edge bruising, otherwise very fine £1,800-£2,200

James Walter applied for a late pension having been ‘wounded shoulder & arm at Albuhera’ (WO 116/59 refers).

During the early part of its service in the Peninsula, the Regiment, which contained a number of turbulent characters in its ranks, received the nickname of the “Steelbacks”, from the amount of flogging administered to its men and the way they bore their punishment; but, following its famous part at the battle of Albuhera in May 1811, they became known as the “Die Hards”, their Colonel having called out on being carried wounded from the battlefield, “Die Hard, 57th! Die Hard!” And so they did, suffering terrible casualties in a close range “firefight” perhaps never equalled in military history - thus from an original strength of 31 officers and 616 men, two officers and 87 men were killed, and 21 officers and 318 men wounded. Marshal Beresford, not normally noted for his eloquence, paid this magnificent tribute to the British infantry under his command: “It is impossible by any description to do justice to the distinguished gallantry of the troops; but every individual nobly did his duty; and it is observed that our dead, particularly in the 57th Regiment, were lying as they fought, in ranks, and every wound was in front”.