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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 18

China 1842 (John Hopwood, Corporal, Royal Marines.), original suspension, edge nicks and light contact marks, very fine

John Hopwood is noted by Captain Douglas-Morris as serving aboard Blenheim during operations in Canton, China. This third rate ship of the line landed 300 marines and seamen during the capture of the Bogue Forts on 26 February 1841, firing broadsides from starboard at the fort on Anunghoy Island (Narrative of the Expedition to China from the Commencement of the War to its Termination in 1842, by J. E. Bingham, refers). She subsequently sailed to Hong Kong, where her Captain, Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, K.C.H., C.B., died aboard ship, the result of fever contracted on China Operations:

'On the morning of the 13th of June, when it was announced to him (Senhouse) that all hopes of saving his life was at an end, he immediately directed the signal be made for all Captains of H.M.'s ships to repair on board, but ere the first had arrived, our gallant commodore was a corpse' (The War in China, by Duncan MacPherson, refers).


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Sold for
£550

Starting price
£280