Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part II)

The Second Mahratta War and Peninsular campaign pair to Sergeant Alexander Liston, 94th Foot

(a) Army of India 1799-1826, 3 clasps, Asseerghur, Argaum, Gawilghur (Corpl. A. Liston, 94th Foot) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming

(b) Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Fuentes d’Onor (Sergeant Alexr. Liston, 94th Foot) rank of ‘Sergeant’ neatly engraved before name, scratching to reverse of the second, otherwise very fine and rare (2) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Collection

Only 48 Asseerghur clasps to European recipients. 38 medals issued with this combination of clasps, of which 33 went to the 94th, just over half of whom also had the MGS medal.

Alexander Liston was born in the Parish of Westchurch, Edinburgh, circa 1775 and enlisted in the 94th Regiment of Foot on 1 December 1793, at the age of nineteen. He served in the Deccan Campaign of 1803 with the ‘94th Scotch Brigade’ being present at the capture of the fort of Asseerghur, Arthur Wellesley’s decisive victory over the Mahrattas at Argaum, and the storming of Gawilghur. Liston was promoted to Sergeant during 1806

In May 1811, he was again serving under Wellesley, or Lord Wellington as he had by then become, but this time in the Peninsula and was present on the 5th of that month at the battle of Fuentes d’Onor. Liston was transferred to the 2nd Garrison Battalion in May 1815 and was discharged having been ‘worn out in the Service’ in October 1816. He was then described as forty-one years of age, five feet eleven inches in height, with brown hair and blue eyes. His trade was given as ‘Upholsterer’.

Ref: WO 97/1143.