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

The Cabul 1842 campaign medal to Brevet Major Charles Shaw, 31st Foot, a veteran of Albuhera in 1811, and a survivor of the burning of the East Indiaman Kent in 1825, who died on campaign in Afghanistan in July 1842

Cabul 1842, unnamed as issued, fitted with original steel clip and bar suspension, extremely fine, together with eight original parchment commission documents relating to himself, his two brothers and his father, all of whom were officers in the regiment, a fine silhouette portrait, various letters, etc., including one from Colonel Fearon, and an original photograph of the memorial tablet erected by the non commissioned officers and men of the regiment, a fascinating collection of ephemera for the 31st Regiment
£800-1000

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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Charles Shaw, the son of Captain William Shaw, was born on 1 May 1794, at Barnard Castle, County Durham, and followed his father into the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, as Ensign, on 13 May 1811. According to his record of service, he was present at the battle of Albuhera ‘doing Duty with 31st Foot under Lord Beresford.’ He subsequently took part in the attacks and surrender of Genoa in April 1814, and at the surrender of Corsica later that year. He was appointed Lieutenant and Adjutant on 13 April 1820, which position he still held when he embarked with the right wing of his regiment aboard the East Indiaman Kent, bound for India in February 1825.

On 1 March 1825, in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay, an oil lamp was accidently dropped into the hold, setting fire to some spirits leaking from a cask. The fire took hold and spread rapidly. With hopes of saving the vessel swiftly vanishing, the officers and men of the regiment preserved the utmost order in the face of almost certain death. Providentially, the brig Cambria (Captain Cook) of 200 tons appeared on the scene.

In his report of 4 March 1825, Cook writes, ‘... we discovered a large sail to the westward, and on approaching found her to have a signal of distress flying, which induced me immediately to render every assistance in my power, and on nearing, found her to be on fire.

About 3 p.m. being then on her bow, we succeeded in getting the first boat from the vessel ... with troops and passengers amounting to 637 souls. From 3 to 8 p.m. the boats were constantly employed in bringing the people to the Cambria and succeeded in saving 296 officers, non-commissioned officers and privates of the 31st Regiment, 46 women and 52 children appertaining to ditto, 19 male and female private passengers and Captain Cobb and 139 of the crew, amounting in all to 553. The flames now becoming exceedingly fierce, I could not urge the sailors again to return to the ship, nor deem it at all prudent for the preservation of lives already on board my vessel to remain longer near the Kent, expecting her instantly to blow up. By accounts since made it is supposed that 68 soldiers, 1 woman, 21 children and 4 of the crew were left when Captain Cobb quitted the vessel, whose conduct during the trying occasion is beyond my humble praise, displaying the greatest coolness and intrepidity, and by his exertions, and those of Colonel Fearon, the commander of the troops, who were last to quit, the women, children and passengers were got into the boats; and they did not leave themselves until their influence to induce any more to go into them was useless.

At 2 a.m. the Kent blew up after being completely enveloped in flames for four hours previously.... I feel the greatest gratification in stating that the gentlemen and their Cornish miners, in all 36, with my crew, 11 more, behaved throughout the trying period with the greatest kindness in getting the people from the boats, soothing their sufferings, giving up their own clothes and beds to the women and children, volunteering to go into the boats ... and leaving nothing undone to make them as comfortable as the limited size of my brig would allow. It would be pleasing also could I speak as highly for the crew of the Kent, but I cannot refrain from expressing my disappointment of their conduct (in which I am borne out by Capt. Cobb) derogatory in every respect to the generally received character of a British seaman - by refusing to return to the Kent for the people, after the first trip, and requiring my utmost exertions and determination to compel them to renew their endeavours to get out the soldiers, passengers, and the remainder of their own shipmates, who were left behind; and it was only by coercive measures, in conjunction with my own crew and passengers, and telling them I would not receive them on board unless they did so, that they proceeded, though reluctantly, in their duty.’

Among the list of officers saved from the Kent are named Lieutenant Charles Shaw (Adjutant), and Ensign Asaph Shaw (see below).

Shaw became Captain on 30 July 1826, and in 1842 served with his regiment in the invasion of Afghanistan under Major-General George Pollock. After fighting its way into Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Pollock’s Army of Revenge arrived at Jellalabad on 16 April and remained there until 20 August. Throughout this period the troops suffered severely from the heat and the results of constant raiding particularly by the Shinwaris. Consequently an expedition was organized under Brigadier-General Monteath, comprising H.M.’s 31st Foot, the 32nd and 53rd Native Infantry, and sent into the Shinwari Valley. At half past eight on 22 July, a fortnight before the Shinwaris were decisively beaten at the battle of Mazenia, Brevet-Major Shaw died ‘of exhaustion from the great heat’ in camp, at Kudder Khan Cote. The memorial tablet erected by the non commissioned officers and privates of the regiment was an impressive monument, embellished with the regimental battle honours and military trophies. It bore the following inscription:

Sacred to the memory of
Charles Shaw,
late brevet Major of Her Majesty’s 31st Regiment;
son of the late William Shaw,
Adjutant of the same regiment,
who was born at Barnard Castle in the county of Durham
on the 1st of May 1794,
and departed this life on the 22nd of July
in the year of our Lord 1842, at Kudder Khan Cote,
during the campaign in Affghanistan.

The medal is accompanied by two parchment commission documents appointing Captain Charles Shaw to a Company in the 31st Foot from 30th July 1826, one given at Court at Windsor, the other at St James’s, dated 1st November 1830 and 1st December 1830 respectively. Other parchment commission documents relate to his father, William Shaw, who died in 1830 (as Adjutant in the 31st Foot, April 1805; as Lieutenant in the Army, November 1806; and as Lieutenant in the 5th Royal Veteran Battalion, February 1820); to his younger brother, Asaph Shaw, who died in 1834 (as Ensign in the 31st Foot, January 1825; and as Lieutenant in the 31st Foot from September 1826, dated December 1830); and to his youngest brother, George Bainbridge Shaw (as Ensign in the 31st Foot from July 1837, dated September 1837).

Refs: WO 25/791.