Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Captain P. A. L. Phipps, 90th Foot, who was severely wounded during the Defence of Lucknow on 6 October 1857

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Lieutenant. P. A. L. Phipps. 90th. Foot.) contemporarily engraved naming; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Defence of Lucknow (Capt. P. A. L. Phipps, 90th. Lt. Inf.); Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed as issued, pierce with ring suspension, good very fine (3) £1,800-£2,200

Paul Andrew Lewis Phipps was commissioned Ensign in the 90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers Light Infantry) on 14 May 1852, and was promoted Lieutenant on 11 August 1854, and Captain on 13 September 1855. He served with them during the Crimean War at the siege of Sebastopol from 5 December 1854 to 24 July 1855.

The 90th returned from the Crimea in June 1856, and in April of the following year embarked ten companies strong at Portsmouth in two transports, the Himalaya and the Transit, for service in China - Phipps being a member of one of the seven companies under Colonel Campbell in the Himalaya. En route, however, the main body of the regiment was diverted to India, and without waiting for the other three companies, which had been shipwrecked in the Transit, landed at Calcutta and marched up country to join the force under Major-General Sir James Outram, which, reinforcing Havelock’s Allahabad Moveable Column, fought its way into Lucknow on 25-26 September. Phipps subsequently took part in the second defence of Lucknow, where he was severely wounded on 6 October 1857. He later exchanged to the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot, and retired by sale of his commission in 1860. A regular attender of various Lucknow commemoration events, he died in Acton, Middlesex, on 12 October 1896, aged 62.

Sold together with two original letters to the recipient from Field Marshal Lord Wolseley (Phipps’ exact contemporary in the 90th Light Infantry), one on War Office writing paper and one on Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, writing paper, the first dated 17 November 1895, the second undated, both signed ‘Wolseley’; together with another letter from Wolseley, dated 16 February 1881; two letters from A. D. Home, V.C. regarding the Lucknow Dinner, dated 27 September and 5 October 1896; other ephemera; and copied research.

Note: Surgeon A. D. Home (later Sir Anthony Home) served with the 90th Light Infantry in India during the Mutiny, and was responsible for caring for the wounded men left behind; it is likely therefore that he was instrumental in caring for, and possibly saving the life of, Phipps after he was wounded. For his gallantry during the Defence of Lucknow he was awarded the Victoria Cross.