Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An extremely rare Heavy Brigade French Medaille Militaire group of four awarded to Troop Sergeant-Major W. F. Stewart, 5th Dragoon Guards, who had three horses killed under him in the famous engagement at Balaklava

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol (Troop S.M. W. F. Stewart, 5th Dn. Gds.), contemporary engraved naming, with attractive Royal Coat of Arms riband device; Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., large letter reverse (5555 Tp.-Sjt.-Mjr. W. Steward, 5th Dragn. Gds.), officially impressed naming; France, Medaille Militaire, silver, gilt and enamel, fitted with hinge-bar suspension and attractive French Eagle riband device; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue (No. 555 T.S.M. W. Stewart, 5th Dragoon Gds.), regimentally impressed naming, with attractive Royal Coat of Arms riband device, note slight variations in name, number and initials, the third with badly chipped enamel, edge bruising, otherwise generally very fine (4) £3500-4000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late John Darwent.

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William Fife Stewart was born in Perthshire and enlisted in the 5th Dragoon Guards at Glasgow in November 1837. Aged 23 years, he stood at over 6ft., an impressive height for the age. Advanced to Corporal in September 1847 and to Sergeant in June 1852, he embarked at Queenstown in the S.S. Himilaya in May 1854, arriving at Varna, Turkey a week or two later. And in September of the same year, shortly before the Battle of Balaklava, he was advanced to Troop Sergeant-Major. Carter gives the following citation in respect of Stewart’s award of the French Medaille Militaire:

‘Troop Sergeant-Major William Stewart served in the Eastern Campaign from May 1854 until the end of the War and was present at the Battle of Balaklava, on which occasion he had two horses killed under him but still continued to act, procuring a third horse and remaining in the action with his Regiment. He was present at Inkermann and never absent from his duty a single day throughout the War.’

In point of fact, or certainly according to an eye-witness in the form of Troop Sergeant-Major Franks, also of the 5th, Stewart actually had three horses killed under him that fateful day:

‘ ... We had a Troop Sergeant-Major named William Stewart, who had no less than three horses shot that day. The first one was by a rifle bullet. Stewart caught another horse belonging to the 4th Dragoon Guards, and he had hardly got mounted when a shell burst under him and blew him up. Stewart escaped without a scratch and managed to catch another loose horse which he rode for a while, until a cannon ball broke one of the horse’s legs. Stewart, who was still without a scratch, took pity on the poor dumb brute and shot him. He then procured yet another horse, which made the fourth he had ridden that day. Very few men, I should say, have had such an experience as this and all within an hour ...’ (Leaves from a Soldier’s Note Book refers)

Undoubtedly it was just such accounts of his bravery that resulted in Stewart being among those Crimea veterans to have their photographs taken at the request of Queen Victoria - probably in his case at Aldershot in May 1856. Sadly, Stewart died at Brighton in July 1859, while on sick furlough, and - as would prove to be the case with his French decoration - his Army L.S. & G.C. was awarded posthumously in the following month.

Sold with original French Medaille Militaire certificate and letter of notification, both dated March 1861, together with two old handwritten translations, the former erroneously inscribed to the 6th Dragoons, and fragments of original ribbons.

(Portrait photograph a detail from the original; courtesy of The Royal Archives 2004. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II).