Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An important and rare gold and enamel miniature of the Gold Medal of the Persian Order of the Lion and Sun named to Lieutenant Charles Duperier who, as a Sergeant in the 4th Light Dragoons was employed in Persia from 1833 to 1839 organising the army of the Shah

Persia, Order of the Lion and Sun, gold medal, an exquisite hand-chased gold medal, c.1850, 13mm diameter, suspended from a hinged gold and dark green enamel ‘ribbon’, this in turn affixed to a gold stick pin, 85mm long, the reverse of the ‘ribbon’ engraved in fine running script ‘Lieut. Charles Duperier 80th Regt. De la Cour, Chatham, Fecit’, good very fine and extremely rare £1,500-£2,000

Note: The three full-sized medals awarded to Major Charles Duperier were sold in these rooms on 7 December 2005 (Lot 957, realised £6,600 inc. premium). The Persian gold medal was dated in the exergue ‘Augst. 28th 1835’ and engraved on the reverse ‘Presented by the Shah of Persia to Charles Duperier’.

Charles Duperier was born in 1808 and followed his father Henry, Adjutant with the 18th Hussars at Waterloo, into the army. It is likely that the family didn't have a monied background as Charles rose up through the non-commissioned ranks after enlisting in 1826 into the 4th Light Dragoons. He bounced up and down from Private to Corporal and Sergeant and back again in his early years, probably due to drunkenness which was not uncommon. An early exponent of the ‘Great Game’ he was employed between 1833 and 1839, as a Sergeant, in Persia organising the Shah's army. He must have done a good job as he became one of the few foreigners to be awarded the Gold Medal of the Persian Imperial Order of the Lion and Sun. He was commissioned Ensign in the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment on 29 December 1840, and fought with that regiment in the 1st China or Opium War in 1843, seeing action at Ningpo, Chapoo, Shaghae, Woosung and Chin Kiang Foo (where he was wounded) and Nankin (China medal). In 1844 he transferred to the 80th and gained his Lieutenancy. A year later he married Lavinia Downing in Falmouth but it is likely she died in childbirth. In 1850 he married Ellen and a year later, whilst at Chatham, their daughter Florence was born. A son Henry (who went on to join the Royal Engineers) followed 2 years later. In 1852 he became a Captain and next saw action in the Burmese war of 1852-53, being present in the actions at Donabew and Nameatoon (India medal with Pegu clasp). He was given his Majority on his retirement with full pay in 1854 and lived afterwards in Plymouth, Devon. After the Crimean War, volunteer regiments were encouraged to form across the country and in 1860 Duperier joined the 3rd Battalion Devon Rifle Volunteers as Adjutant. In 1861 he became a Captain of the 2nd Administrative Battalion. His second wife Ellen died in 1862 and 2 years later, he married his 3rd and final wife, Ann Hill. In his 66th year, Duperier shot himself in the head, fearing he was losing his mind and not wishing to be locked up in an asylum. An obituary appeared in The Western Daily Mercury on 9 April 1874, and the 1875 Army List recorded his death.

George Henry De la Cour was a clock and watchmaker, silversmith and jeweller from 1823-55, based at 327 High Street in Chatham, Kent.