Medals from the collection of the late Mike Leahy

Book of Common Prayer, pocket sized 1852 edition, bound in red leather with brass edges and locket, the front cover gold blocked ‘G. P. Houghton, 11th P.A.O. Hussars’, and inscribed in ink inside ‘G. P. Houghton, 11th Hussars’, good condition £100-150

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the collection of the late Mike Leahy.

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Lieutenant George Powell Houghton was mortally wounded in the Charge of the Light Brigade, 25 October, 1854, when he was struck in the forehead by a fragment of shell. He rode back to the lines and some said that his was the figure mistaken for Lord Cardigan, giving rise to the stories that Cardigan turned before reaching the Russian guns. They were both riding chestnut horses with white stockings, wearing similar uniforms and there was also some physical resemblance between them. Pennington described Houghton as a handsome and courteous young officer, whose death was mourned by every rank. He was the only son of George Powell Houghton, J.P., of Kilmanock House, Wexford, Ireland.