Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Waterloo medal awarded to Lieutenant J. R. Gordon, 7th Hussars, who was severely wounded at Genappe on 17 June 1815

Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. J. R. Gordon, 7th Regiment Hussars) fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension, some minor edge bruising and marks, otherwise toned, good very fine and a rare casualty £4,000-£5,000

John Robert Gordon was the son of John Gordon, of Wincombe Park, Donhead St Mary, Wiltshire, and Jamaica. He was appointed Cornet in the 7th Hussars, by purchase, on 13 February 1812, and promoted to Lieutenant on 15 September 1813. He served in the Peninsula from August 1813 to April 1814, and was present in the actions at Orthes and Toulouse.

In the Waterloo campaign, the 7th Hussars arrived on the field too late to see action at Quatre Bras, but they played an active part in covering Wellington’s retreat, especially on the 17th June at the village of Genappe, where the 7th made several gallant charges against the French 2nd Regiment of Lancers. Lieutenant Gordon was severely wounded in this action and would have been captured, or even killed, had it not been for the gallant act of Lieutenant W. S. Smith of the 10th Hussars.

This incident is recorded in a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel T. W. Taylor, 10th Hussars, published in Siborne’s Waterloo Letters:

‘Lieutenant Smith of the 10th was sent across to the main road and was present at the affair between the 7th Hussars and the French Lancers; during which, at considerable risk to himself, he saved Lieutenant Gordon of the 7th, who was wounded, from capture or death, by dismounting and lending him his horse to carry him to the rear till he could meet his own led horses. Lieutenant Smith escaped being taken by leaping over the ditch off the chaussée, till the Lancers being driven back he got his horse again.’

Gordon was appointed Captain, by purchase of a Troop in his regiment, on 12 December 1816. He retired by the sale of his commission on 29 July 1824, and died at Plymouth on 20 September 1824.