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Auction: 25003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 5

The remarkable Military General Service Medal awarded to Principal Purveyor M. Wreford, Medical Department, who was taken a Prisoner of War at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815, before rising to be Purveyor-in-Chief to the Forces at Scutari during the Crimean War - he regularly crossed swords with 'The Lady with the Lamp', Florence Nightingale

Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Pyrenees (M. Wreford, Purveyor's Clerk.), mounted as worn with top riband device, good very fine

5 Medals issued to Purveyor's Clerks, all attached to the Medical Department - this was the only single clasp award with this clasp.

Matthew Wreford was appointed as a Purveyor's Clerk in and was present for the Battle of the Pyrenees (Medal & clasp) in July-August 1813, remaining variously in the Peninsular for 1 year, 7 months & 22 days in the period October 1812-June 1814. At Plymouth from June-August 1814, he was waiting subordination from August-September 1814, being ordered to join the force which sailed for New Orleans on 10 September 1814.

As recalled by his Service Record, Wreford certainly played his part:

'Disembarked with the Troops and continued with them during the whole of the operations on the Banks of the Mississippi - and was made Prisoner of War on returning to the Ships January 1815.'

Wreford was therefore a member of the party who landed in late 1814, probably being present on 23 December 1814 in the affair at Hallen's Piquet, before being in the final - and abortive - defeat at the hands of General Jackson's American Army at New Orleans on 8 January 1815. Wreford would remain a captive until his final release on 16 June 1815.

Returned home, he was to again serve in France, the Netherlands & Portugal in the following years. Advanced Deputy Purveyor at the War Office in September 1829, he was made Acting Purveyor at Turkey in November 1841. He would thence be appointed Purveyor-in-Chief to the Forces (with the local rank of Major) in Turkey in August 1854, in good time for the Crimean War. His services there would come under the close watch of Florence Nightingale, who recalled him as '...that vain, silly, swearing old man'. The Purveyors were under strict orders to keep expenses down on the wishes of the Home Government, on what Official Timidity noted as the '...culpable extravagance'. A constant battle waged at Scutari in the required supplies being landed and afforded to the troops and hospitals there, something which 'The Lady with the Lamp' campaigned for. He was made Principal Purveyor in December 1860 and died in September 1865.

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Estimate
£2,000 to £3,000

Starting price
£1800