Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Indian Mutiny pair awarded to Captain N. E. B. Turnour, Royal Navy, who was wounded at the storming of Fort Serapequi, Nicaragua, in 1848; served in H.M.S. Cressy during the Baltic Campaign; and then with H.M.S. Pearl’s Naval Brigade during the Great Sepoy Mutiny.

In charge of the Pearl’s Guns, Turnour participated in all of the Naval Brigade’s actions, was wounded, and for his services was several times Mentioned in Despatches and advanced Commander at the specific request of Captain Sotheby. He later commanded H.M.S. Clio on the ‘Gunboat Frontier’ of the Canadian Pacific Coast, 1864-68, bringing peace and administrating justice during the lawless gold-rush period

Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Commr. Nichs. E, B, Turnour. Pearl.) pawn-broker’s mark to obverse of first, and therefore this medal probably added for display purposes, minor edge nicks, good very fine (2) £2,400-£2,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from a Mutiny Collection.

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Provenance: George McIlroy Collection.

Nicholas Edward Brooke Turnour was born in Chichester, Sussex, in 1828, the sixth child of Reverend the Hon. Edward Turnour, and the grandson of the 1st Earl Winterton, sometime Speaker of the House of Commons. He entered the Navy in 1843, and was wounded when Midshipman of H.M.S. Alarm, at the storming of Fort Serapequi, Nicaragua, in 1848. He became a Lieutenant in 1849, and served in H.M.S. Cressy during the Baltic campaign.

Posted to H.M.S. Pearl on 26 December 1855, Turnour served during the Great Sepoy Mutiny in command of that part of Pearl’s Naval Brigade which formed the first ‘Naval Horse Artillery’. He commanded the guns during the attack on the village of Bustee on 1 June 1858, and again during the attack on the village of Dhebrahia on 1 September 1858. During the attack on the rebel camp at Jugdespore on 26 October 1858 he commanded the party of 57 seamen and marines, armed with two twelve pound howitzers and a rocket tube, and then took part in the affair at Toolespore on 23 November 1858, where he commanded the horsed twelve-pound howitzers and a rocket battery in support of the 53rd Foot. Finally, at the battle of Sohunpore on 26 December 1858, on a rapidly changing front the Naval Battery under Turnour ‘returned fire with such precision and quickness that the enemy were silenced in half an hour’.

Turnour was promoted Commander in 1858, this promotion being done under the less than normal circumstances of the Mutiny. The Pearl muster book is noted, ‘On the discharge of these officers (6 June 1858) a letter was received from the Admiralty authorising their being borne as additional Commanders from the date of their commission as such’.
The original letter of recommendation from Captain Sotheby, R.N., Commanding Pearl’s Naval Brigade states:
‘Camp Bustee, 22 June 1858.
Sir, I have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of my Lords commissioners of the Admiralty, that a portion of the Naval Brigade under the charge of Lieutenant Turnour, and the marines under Lieutenant Pym R.N. were engaged in a very creditable affair on 9 June in driving the enemy out of Amhora, when one party was posted in the village and fort, and the other in a long a belt of bamboo jungle and a large house at the entrance. I beg to recommend both these active officers, then suffering from sickness, to their Lordships notice, with the enclosed report. Mr Foot Midshipman, was also present with the guns.’

For his services with the Naval Brigade during the Great Sepoy Mutiny Turnour was several times Mentioned in the Despatches of Captain Sotheby, R.N., an Colonel Rowcroft, specifically for:
The attacks on Railbundpore and Phoolpore, 21 February 1858.
The attack on Fort at Ichoura, 1 March 1858.
The attack on the Fort at Belwar, 9 March 1858: ‘Our guns, under Lieutenant Turnour, opened out at about 350 yards’.
The attack on Thamoulee, 22 April 1858: ‘Lieutenant Turnour, who had been in six actions with the Brigade, was in charge of the guns, and made capital practise.’
The attack on Puchawas, 29 April 1858: ‘Turnour in charge of two guns.’
The attack on Hurreah, 18 June 1858.
and The attack on Sohunpore, 28 December 1858: ‘Lieutenant Turnour, an officer of much ability and previously wounded, was in charge of the guns, the precision of their fire was the admiration of all.’

Advanced Captain, Turnour subsequently commanded H.M.S. Clio on the Pacific Station from 5 July 1864 to 1868, and after a voyage via the Falkland Islands, the Straits of Magellan, and Honolulu, spent most of this period patrolling the ‘Gunboat Frontier’ of the Canadian Pacific coast - the gold rush at the time, in an area with no civil authority, had made this area particularly lawless. An example of the ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’ that Turnour engaged in is evident from a report that he sent to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on 24 January 1866:
‘On my return from Mettah I put into Fort Rupert on the 22nd of December where I came into contact with the Indians on account of some murders which had been committed there. The Indians refused to comply with my request to have the murderers given up. They then threatened to fire upon my men and made use of the most warlike demonstrations. I punished them by burning their Ranch destroying their canoes and whisky stock. I took several prisoners.’

Clio Channel and Clio Bay off the Canadian coast were named for the ship, and a small island off the central British Columbia coast is named Turnour Island. Amongst Turnour’s crew in the Clio was the young Midshipman (and future Admiral) Lord Charles Beresford. Turnour returned to the U.K. in H.M.S. Clio on 18 July 1868, and died in Torquay, Devon, on 10 January 1870, aged 42.

Note: A single Baltic Medal, contemporarily engraved ‘Lieutt. N E B Turnour, H.M.S. Cressy’, was sold in these rooms in April 2001.

Sold with copied research.