Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Peninsula and Waterloo pair of miniature dress medals attributed to Surgeon J. B. Gibson, 52nd Foot

Military General Service 1793-1814, 17mm; Waterloo 1815, 17mm, both mounted from a miniature width clasp block with 8 clasps, Fuentes D’Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, extremely fine and most attractive (2) £800-£1,000

Note: Gibson is the only officer with this medal and clasp combination. His full sized medals were sold in these rooms as part of the Colonel D. G. B. Riddick Collection of Medals to the Medical Services in September 2006.

John Bushby Gibson was born on 11 February 1782. He was appointed Hospital Assistant on 8 August 1803, and as Assistant Surgeon to the 20th Light Dragoons the following month. He served with the 20th Light Dragoons in Egypt in 1807 and was present at the capture of Alexandria, the siege of Rosetta, and the affair at El Hamet, where he was made prisoner. The prisoners taken at El Hamet in April 1807 were transported up the Nile by boat to Cairo, the preserved heads of their fallen comrades in the holds below their feet. At Cairo both heads and prisoners were paraded around the city to the great delight of the inhabitants and the prisoners were then incarcerated throughout the city. There they remained imprisoned throughout the heat of the Egyptian summer until September, when the survivors were exchanged.

In 1809 Gibson was present at the capture of Ischia and Procida, and became Surgeon of the Sicilian Regiment in December of that year. He was appointed as Surgeon to the 52nd Foot in December 1810 and served with that regiment throughout the war in the Peninsula until the peace in 1814. He was present at Sabugal, Fuentes D’Onor, Marcalva, Ciudad Rodrigo, San Milan, Vittoria, Lesacca and Bidassoa, Vera, Nivelle, Arboune, Nive (9th, 10th, and 11th December 1813). Orthes, Tarbes, and Toulouse. Finally he served the campaign of 1815, including the battle of Waterloo. He died on 3 August 1849.