REVIEW: ORDERS, DECORATIONS, MEDALS AND MILITARIA 29 JUNE

Few soldiers will have found themselves at the centre of as many historic battles as John Cameron – and fewer still would have provided such a vivid and informed written account of them.

But Cameron, who had been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the 9th Foot in September 1807, was to command the 2nd Battalion at Vimeiro the following year, before assuming command of the 1st Battalion – a position he retained throughout the Peninsula War, initially serving under Sir John Moore in 1809 at Corunna.

Battling sickness and dangerous odds, Cameron was to have not one but two horses shot from under him, once during the battle of Busaco in 1810, and again during the battle of the Nive in 1813.

Serving throughout the war, he was wounded twice, severely contused twice and served in in a regiment whose losses exceeded those of any other.

His courage and intrepid bravery at Corunna were noted by his superiors, and promotion followed upon promotion, putting him not just at the centre of the action, but also at the centre of tactics and strategy, so that his subsequent eyewitness written account of the campaign, ‘The Letters of Lt. Colonel Sir John Cameron, 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment of Foot, 1808-14’, was qualified by a unique authority.

Cameron rose from his sick-bed to command the 9th Foot at Busaco, 27 September 1810, winning singular praise in the post-battle report submitted to the Duke of Wellington by Major-General Leith: ‘The 9th Regiment was commanded by Lieut.-Col. Cameron, who notwithstanding his being extremely ill, exerted himself with the greatest gallantry in front during the charge, when his horse was killed under him.’

The 9th, meanwhile, was lauded for “conduct as distinguished as any regiment could have shown”.

Such were Cameron’s dedication and achievements that he was appointed one of the first ever Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on his return to England in 1814.

In later life Cameron rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General and was knighted, while his many appointments included Lieutenant-Governor of Plymouth.

Noonans were able to bring all of this and more back into the spotlight when they offered the Scottish-born Lieutenant-General Sir John Cameron, K.C.B.’s Peninsula War group of four at auction on June 29.

They included the circa 1815 Paris-made breast star for The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, K.C.B.; an Army Gold Cross 1806-14, for Vimeiro, Corunna, Salamanca, and St. Sebastian, with 3 clasps for Buzaco, Vittoria and Nive; a Field Officer’s Small Gold Medal, the reverse centre inscribed ‘Vimiera, & Corunna. 1808-9.’, with a clasp for Salamanca; and The Portuguese Military Order of the Tower and Sword.

These were accompanied by a silvered bronze medal commemorating the renaming of Plymouth Dockyard to Devonport by King George IV in 1823 and a rare contemporary fringed silk panel with printed description of the medal; also a copy of The Napoleonic Archive Volume 1: British Line Infantry Memoirs, including ‘The Letters of Lt. Colonel Sir John Cameron, 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment of Foot, 1808-14’.

As Oliver Pepys, Auctioneer and Associate Director of Noonans, said: “By the time Cameron saw action in the Peninsula War, he had already completed heroic service at the age of just 21 with the 43rd Light Infantry in the West Indies at the captures of Martinique, St Lucia and Guadaloupe.

“There, he displayed his gallantry and won his captaincy at the storming of the Fortress of Fleur d’Epée. As a junior captain, he was placed in command of his sickness-reduced regiment, and although he had suffered severe wounds, he was captured in the defence of Berville Camp on 4 October 1794, which resulted in him spending two years in a prison hulk off Pointe-á-Pitre, Guadaloupe.”

The group and accompanying material sold for a top-estimate £90,000.