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Auction: 24112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 343

The Victorian campaign pair awarded to Private J. McArthur, 49th Foot, who was killed in action in the trenches in the Crimea

China 1842 (James Mc Arthur, 49th Regiment Foot.), officially impressed naming; Crimea 1854-56, 2 clasps, Alma, Inkermann (J. McArthur. 49th Regt), officially impressed naming, the first with edge knocks, nearly very fine and the second good very fine (2)

Provenance:
Dix Noonan Webb, July 2001.

James McArthur was born in Glasgow and attested there with the 49th Foot in February 1841, later arriving in Hong Kong that November to join the First Opium War. They sailed up the Yangtse River on the H.M.S. Apollo to capture the city of Chinkiang, with the ensuing battle over the city taking place on 21 July 1842 for which the Regiment formed part of Major-General Bartley's 3rd Brigade together with the 18th Foot and the 18th Madras Native Infantry. At the start of the conflict, the Brigade reached the North Gate by boat and began their attack under the cover of artillery fire from the British Navy. The Chinese Bannermen commenced a fierce counter attack, and the close quarters combat persisted for an hour until British troops were able to rush the battery. The 3rd Brigade occupied the North Gate while the West Gate was blown up with gunpowder, to which the Brigade rushed and broke the Qing defence. Chinkiang was the last major battle of the war and allowed the British to move to Nanking, where the peace treaty was signed.

The Regiment sailed for Malta in March 1853 to participate in the Crimean conflict and there joined the 2nd Division under command of Lieutenant-General Sir de Lacy Evans. At the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854, they were positioned on the British right and pushed up the Sevastopol Road as the Russian troops began to flee.

They again saw action in October at the Battle of Balaclava, called 'Little Inkerman', which preceded the Battle of Inkerman by a little over a week. The 49th Foot earned special mention for their role at Balaclava, with De Lacy Evans writing in his report to Lord Raglan that, 'The severest part of the fighting fell on the picquets of the 30th and 49th Regiments. Impartial witnesses not belonging to the division have declared that heroic acts were performed on this occasion'.

The next week at Inkerman, Major-General Pennefather took over command of the 2nd Division. The 'Soldier's Battle' was fought under heavy cover of fog, the unit held Home Hill until Pennefather gave the order to advance on the Russians who continued to fire on the unmanned hill. They met in the valley and the Russians were forced into a disadvantageous position by the bottleneck formation of the landscape, some members of the Regiment fired a volley into the advancing Russian column and charged with bayonets, driving the enemy back to Shell Hill. The 49th Foot earned its first three Victoria Crosses for services performed during the Crimean War.

During the Siege of Sevastopol after the British captured the Russian position at The Quarries on 7 June 1855, McArthur was killed in the trenches during an unsuccessful Russian counter attack late that night. He was one of 391 men of his unit who died in the Crimean War; sold together with copied research.

McArthur is also entitled to the Sebastopol clasp, issued separately after his death.


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Sold for
£800

Starting price
£800