Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Lieutenant W. H. Rason, Royal Navy, killed whilst in command of the gun-boat Plover at the unsuccessful attack on the Peiho Forts in June 1859

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Pegu (Hector Rason, Midn. “Fox”); Baltic 1854-55, unnamed as issued; Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Mate W. H. Rason, H.M.S. Leopard) contemporary engraved naming; China 1857-60, 1 clasp, Canton 1857, unnamed as issued, suspension claw loose on this; Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue, unnamed, fitted with Crimea style suspension, all but the China medal fitted with matching silver ribbon brooches, extremely fine (5) £2000-2500

William Hector Rason was born at Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1833. He served as Midshipman of the Fox during the campaign in Burma in 1852-53, as Acting Mate of the Leopard at Sebastopol, and as Mate of the same ship in the Baltic. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 20 April 1855, and in March 1857 was placed in command of the Kestrel, in which vessel he was present at the capture of Canton in December of that year. He joined the Plover as Lieutenant and Commander on 1 November 1858, and in this vessel carried the flag of Rear-Admiral James Hope, C.B., in the attack on the Peiho Forts on 25 June 1859.

When the Opossom, closely supported by the Plover, Lee and Haughty, reached the second boom across the Peiho river, the forts opened a simultaneous fire from between thirty and forty guns. Hope at once ordered the ships to engage. It was a hot day, with a clear blue sky, and the Chinese had the range to a nicety. Rason posted the Plover close to the barrier, with the Opossum, Lee, and Haughty, in succession, astern of her, but very quickly the four gun-boats inside the outer barrier were becoming disabled. Lieutenant Rason, the Plover’s gallant young commander was killed instantly, cut in two by a round shot.

There is a memorial to him at St Mary’s Church, Eastbourne, East Sussex, bearing the inscription, “Sacred to the memory of William Hector Rason, Lieut. R.N. aged 26; who gallantly fell under the Batteries of the Peiho, 25th JUne 1859, when in command of the ‘Plover’ Gun Boat; sunk in Action carrying the Admiral’s flag. This monument is erected by his Brother officers in token of their admiration of his conspicuous gallantry and moral worth.” Sold with copies from Rear-Admiral Hope’s despatch and other research. See also Lot 939 for the pair awarded to his youngest brother.