Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Alexander Davison’s Medal for The Nile 1798, bronze-gilt, the reverse field engraved in the usual running script style for this ship ‘Jno. Millman Minotaur’, contained in a glazed copper-gilt frame with integral loop for suspension, good very fine £1,000-£1,400

John Milman served as an Able Seaman aboard H.M.S. Minotaur at the battle of the Nile. He was from Southbrent, Dartmoor, Devon, and was aged 35. There was also a Philip Milman on board Minotaur, aged 26, from ‘Peyton’ [Paignton], Devon, and probably related. Neither man received the N.G.S. medal. There are only medals to men on board Minotaur whose medals are engraved in this fine hand with open letters. It is likely that both the engraving and gilding of the medal were carried out on board ship. (Matthew Boulton’s Naval Medals, by Sim Comfort, refers).