A Collection of British Orders, Decorations and Medals (The Property of a Gentleman)

Ghuznee 1839, neatly engraved in the reverse field ‘Thomas Wingate, Lieut. 2nd or Queen’s Royal Regiment’, fitted with contemporary silver bar suspension, very fine £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of British Orders, Decorations and Medals (The Property of a Gentleman).

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Thomas Wingate was born in the French fortress of Verdun where his father, Lieutenant George Thomas Wingate, R.N., was a prisoner of war. He was appointed ensign, by purchase, in the 78th Foot (Ross-shire Buffs) on 13 May 1826, and served in Ceylon from October 1828 until November 1832. He obtained his Lieutenancy on 13 May 1830, transferred to the 2nd Foot (Queen’s Royals) on 8 November 1833 and then served with the 2nd in India and Afghanistan, where he was present at the storming of Ghuznee and commanded the leading company of the advance on Kelat. He was a talented artist whose magnificent series of lithographs appeared in The Storming of Ghuznee and Kelat, published in 1842.

Wingate retired as a Captain in June 1846 and emigrated to Australia in 1852, arriving at Sydney in February of that year, where he continued to work as an artist and photographer. In about September 1854 he received a commission as a Major in the Sydney Volunteer Rifles and, later the same year was appointed the first commanding officer of the 1st New South Wales Rifle Volunteers. He died in 1869 at Potts Point, Sydney.

Another medal named to this officer was sold by Nobles (Australia) in March 1996