Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

China 1842, 1 clasp, China 1842 (John Doyle, Clerk, H.M.S. Apollo) fitted with contemporary replacement bar suspension and ribbon buckle, very fine and rare £2,000-£2,600

Provenance: China Medal, Buckland Dix & Wood, April 1994; clasp added later to complete entitlement.

Just 101 clasps ‘China 1842’ were issued to officers and men who served in the first and second China wars.

John Doyle passed his examination on 6 January 1841, and was appointed to H.M.S. Apollo, in which ship he served during the campaign in China, at the storming and capture of Chin Keang Foo in July 1842. He was promoted Paymaster on 6 March 1856, and on 12 May 1859, was appointed to H.M.S. Cambrian, on the East India and China Station. In Cambrian he became entitled to the second China war medal but the note on the medal roll 'Has the Medal for 1842' indicates that he would have received just the clasp 'China 1842' to add to his earlier medal. Confirmed on the roll of recipients for the clasp 'China 1842' in Naval Medals 1793-1856, by Captain K. J. Douglas-Morris, where further details will be found.