A MILITARY GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL TO MAJOR EDWARD DARLEY OF T...

A MILITARY GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL TO MAJOR EDWARD DARLEY OF THE 62ND. A Military General Service Medal with Nivelle and Nive clasps named to E Darley Major 62nd Foot. The roll records 88 Military General Service Medals to the 62nd, 58 of these with two clasps and none having more than two clasp 11 of these to officers. The 62nd were awarded 64 clasps for Nivelle and 83 for Nive. Edward Darley is confirmed to the roll and is recorded as being appointed Major from the 2nd May 1811, and Acting Lieutenant Colonel from 1st January 1812. In 1794, as a Major-General, Darley served at the siege of Port-au-Prince, in St. Domingo, and subsequently at the siege of Morne Fortunée, in St. Lucia; and in Egypt in 1807. As a Major in 1811 he commanded 250 men on an expedition in a joint attack with H.M. frigates the Imperieuse and Thames, in what the Regimental History called a dashing and completely successful combined operation for which Major Darley received much credit and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The 62nd under Darley had played an important part in ascending the heights of Palinura in Calabria, against a well prepared enemy three times their strength. He served in the Peninsula from August 1813 to the end of that war in 1814, and saw action at the battle of Nivelle, and in the actions before Bayonne, on the 9th, 10th and 11th December, 1813. Darley is recorded as being responsible for the men of his Regiment aboard the merchant ship Lord Melville at the time of its loss as a part of one of the greatest losses of life to the British Army at Sea. The Lord Melville had been converted to a troop transport ship at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. On the 30th January 1816 she was a part of a convoy of three ships sailing to Ireland transporting six officers, and 76 rank and file of the 2nd/62nd Foot with some of their wives and children. They were returning to Ireland for garrison duties having served as a part of the Allied Army of occupation in Paris following the battle of Waterloo. The ships were wrecked during a violent gale off the coast of County Cork, as a result of the skilled seamanship of Captain Arman and quick response of Darley, only twelve of those aboard lost their lives compared with hundreds on the other two ships. At one point when the ship hit rocks, some of the crew tried to abandon ship. 'Lieutenant -Colonel Darley drew his sword, and threatened to decapitate any sailor who attempted to leave before every man, woman and child of the 62nd were safely ashore'. The Regimental history records the dramatic actions of the afternoon and the desperate attempts to lower boats, at ten o'clock at night a line was put ashore and many lives saved. Provenance: This medal is recorded with Glendening's in July 1932. The collection of E.E.Needes, Esq of Highgate London, Glendining & Co. London, December 1940, lot 377 sold for £10. The Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Benskin Green Collection, loaned to 'The Wardrobe' Military museum Salisbury by Dr J. Green 1982 - 2026.

Estimation:€717.33

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