Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Waterloo 1815 (As. Surg. J. W. Macauley, 1st Reg. Dragoon Guard[s]) fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension which is obscuring last letter of unit, good very fine £4,000-£5,000

James William Macauley was born near Dublin on 26 April 1790, to an Irish Catholic family at a time of sectarian division. His parents James and Elinor McAuley died when he was young and he was raised by Protestant relatives. He and one of his sisters, Mary, converted to Protestantism and took the spelling ‘Macauley’. His other sister, Catherine McAuley, remained a Catholic and went on to found the worldwide order the Sisters of Mercy.

James Macauley, who counted apothecaries and surgeons among his relatives, was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons (England) as Hospital Mate on 1 February 1810, and one week later he was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the 63rd Foot. However, on 16 August that same year, he transferred to the 1st Dragoon Guards and remained with them through to Waterloo, having spent six years on Wellington’s campaigns. He was appointed Surgeon, Royal Hibernian School, on 15 August 1817, and gained his MD degree at Edinburgh University in 1825. He returned to Ireland upon his appointment as Physician and Surgeon at the Royal Kilmainham Hospital, Dublin, on 12 February 1829, and retired on pension on 1 April 1858.