Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

China 1842 (George Byford, H.M.S. Dido) good very fine £600-700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Tim Ash.

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George Byford was born at Sudbury, Suffolk, in October 1818. He joined H.M.S. Dido, Captain Hon. Henry Keppel, R.N., as a Landsman on 16 October 1841, taking part in the China War at the capture of Chiang-Kiang-Fu on 21 July 1842. Dido subsequently proceeded up river to Nanking where the treaty of Nanking was signed on 29 August 1842. This ship was afterwards engaged in 1843 in the expedition against the Sarebas pirates of Borneo, and in the following year against the Sekarran pirates of Sarawak. Dido arrived home at Sheerness on completion of her commission on 31 January 1845 and George Byford, with the rest of the ship’s company, was paid off on 12 February.

This medal was the subject of an article by Tim Ash published by Medal News, and is sold with a comprehensive file of research covering the commission of the Dido in China and the Far East.