Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part I)

The rare naval campaign pair to Captain George Tincombe, Royal Navy, promoted to Commander for services during the Burmese War from where he returned with Despatches

(a) Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Egypt (G. Tincombe, Midshipman)

(b) Army of India 1799-1826, 1 clasp, Ava (1st Lieut. G. Tincombe, R.N. Actg. Captn.) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming, light handling marks, otherwise extremely fine
£4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Collection

The earliest N.G.S. clasp in combination with Ava to the Royal Navy, one of only 20 such pairs, nine of which were in combination with Syria. The ‘Actg. Captn.’ shown on his medal for the Burma campaign refers to his post at the time rather than his rank.

George Tincombe was born at Sidmouth, Devon, in 1784 and entered the Navy in March 1800. He served his first eight months at sea as an Ordinary and A.B. in the Wassenaer, employed in the Downs and afterwards in the Mediterranean under Captains Edward Marsh and John Larmour, R.N. Tincombe was appointed Midshipman on 1 October 1800, and, having followed Larmour into the troopship Diadem, took part in the operations connected with the expedition to Egypt, and was present at the landing of the Army in Aboukir Bay on 8 March 1801. In 1803, he again followed Larmour, this time into the frigate Clyde (38), in which he served for the next eighteen months chiefly blockading the Dutch coast. In September 1804, he joined Melampus, Captain Stephen Poyntz, R.N., stationed in the Channel, West Indies and on the North America station. While in Melampus, he contributed to the capture of two armed brigs each carrying fifty men, most of them troops; four luggers of one long 18-pounder and twenty-five men each en route from Bordeaux to Brest; and a Spanish privateer of 28 guns and 192 men, of whom three were killed and several wounded. He also was aboard Melampus when she joined the 74’s Belleisle and Bellona, and assisted in the destruction of the French 74 L’Impéteux.

In February 1808, Tincombe was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of Triumph (74), the command of the Trafalgar hero, Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, Bart. After cruising in the North Sea and the Basque Roads, Tincombe was given charge of a division of gun boats on the Tagus. He was next appointed to the command of a gun boat and was ‘actively engaged’ in the defence of Cadiz, and as a reward for his services he was confirmed a Lieutenant of the Triumph on 4 May 1810.

From December 1810 to September 1814, he was employed in the Armada (74), participating in the blockade of Flushing, the Texel, and Toulon, the unsuccessful attack on Leghorn, the capture of Savona, and in a variety of operations off the Italian coast. In October 1821, he went with Captain Charles Grant from the Armada, when that officer transferred his broad pendant to the Liffey (50) in the East Indies. While serving in the Liffey, Tincombe witnessed the reduction of Rangoon during the First Burma War, and took part in operations against various stockades on the Irrawaddy. Tincombe returned from the Far East aboard a merchantman carrying despatches in July 1825, and was promoted Commander on 19 August following. His final promotion to Captain came on 1 April 1856. Tincombe was placed on half-pay in 1825 and settled in Plymouth; firstly at 6 Oxford Street, and afterwards at 13 Portland Square. Captain George Tincombe died in Devon sometime in 1868.

Refs: Naval Biography (Marshall and O’Byrne); ADM 107/38; ADM 196/6; ADM 9/10; ADM 9/57; ADM 25/256; PMG 15/25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 & 60.