Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

97th Foot Order of Merit 1801, by J. G. Hancock and Kempson & Kindon, obverse: a sphinx holding a Union Flag above a ragged French tricolour, in the exergue, ‘XXI March MDCCCI’; reverse: within a palm wreath, ‘Queen’s German Regiment’, 47mm., pewter, pierced for ring suspension, Ref: Balmer R.579b, Tancred p.352/53, H.I. p.283, good very fine £80-100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Regimental Medals from the James N Spencer Collection.

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Several regiments had borne the number ‘97’. The one for which the above medal was intended originated as a foreign corps known originally as Stuart’s Regiment, then as the Minorca Regiment and subsequently as the Queen’s German Regiment. It was brought into the line as the 97th Foot in 1801 after greatly distinguishing itself in Egypt under Abercromby. The medal itself was instituted to commemorate the recapture of the standard of Napoleon’s ‘Invincibles’ by Private Antoine Lutz in Egypt 1801. After Waterloo the regiment was renumbered as the 96th and was disbanded in 1818. In 1823 / 24 a new 96th Regiment was formed which inherited the old regiment’s Egyptian and Peninsula battle honours and which subsequently became the 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment.