A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household

Three: Lieutenant the Honourable A. T. Fitzmaurice, 72nd Highlanders, later Groom of the Bedchamber to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales

Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Lieut. A. T. Fitzmaurice, 72nd. Reg) officially impressed naming; Jubilee 1887, silver, unnamed as issued; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue (The Honble. A. Fitzmaurice. 72nd. Highdrs.) contemporarily engraved naming, a contemporary tailor’s copy, by ‘J.B.’, swivel-ring suspension, contact marks, nearly very fine and better (3) £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Members of the Nobility and The Royal Household.

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The Honourable Alexander Temple Fitzmaurice was born at Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire) on 23 January 1834, the fourth son of the 5th Earl of Orkney and his wife Charlotte, daughter of the 3rd Baron Boston. Receiving a commission into the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot on 13 May 1853, he transferred as an Ensign to the 72nd Highlanders on 15 July of that year. Promoted Lieutenant on 1 December 1854, he served with the Highlanders in the Crimea from June 1855, arriving in time to take part in the siege and fall of Sebastopol, including the first attack on the Grand Redan, 18 June 1855. He also took part in the expedition to Kertch. In August 1857 he left with his Regiment for India, to help quell the great Sepoy Mutiny, and although he was there for almost a year did not see any action and did not receive the Indian Mutiny Medal. He retired by sale of his commission on 3 July 1860, and in 1867 was appointed Groom of the Bedchamber to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.

Fitzmaurice married Mrs. Adela Riddell, daughter of Simon Scrope Esq., of Danby, Yorkshire, and the widow of Edward Riddell Esq., on 26 April 1873. He died without issue on 19 June 1894.

Lieutenant Fitzmaurice is one of seven officers of the 72nd Highlanders who appears in the famous photograph of officers of the Regiment who served in the Crimea.

For the Indian Mutiny Medal to the recipient’s brother, the Hon. H. W. Fitzmaurice, see Lot 130.