Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 25112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 3

(x) The unusual Naval General Service Medal awarded to Hans Swane, a Danish national who served in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, Martinique, Guadeloupe (Hans Swane), upper clasp carriage additionally affixed with a three-tier silver bar and loop for wear, the reverse of the central bar contemporarily engraved 1809 "Neptune" and 1810 "Pompee", lightly polished and minor scratches to obverse field, very fine

Hans Swane, a unique name on the Medal Roll, is confirmed with entitlement to these two clasps for his service as a 'Boy' aboard Neptune and Pompee during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Copenhagen in 1788 (as recorded in the 1851 England census), Hans Ernst Swane appears to have joined the Royal Navy circa 1805; how this happened is not immediately apparent, but considering that Britain and Denmark were at war for much of the Napoleonic period (and indeed that the Royal Navy bombarded Copenhagen in both 1801 and 1807) it is perfectly possible that other than voluntary enlistment, young Swane may have been captured from a Danish vessel and impressed into service to fight for an entirely different king and country.

By 1809, Swane was aboard the 98-gun H.M.S. Neptune for the campaign to attack and capture the French colony of Martinique in January of that year; Neptune served as the flagship of the expedition's commander, Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, and the last of the French positions surrendered on 24 February. Swane is then noted on the books of the 74-gun H.M.S. Pompee, a ship which had also participated in the reduction of Martinique and was commanded by Commodore George Cockburn, who was responsible for co-operation between the army and navy during the campaign.

Swane appears to have been discharged from military service in 1815 and, instead of returning to his native Denmark, made a new (and quite successful) life for himself in the United Kingdom: in October 1818 he married one Dinah Osman at the village of Eling, Hampshire and by now had anglicised his name to 'Henry Edward Swane', residing at Broadwater in Sussex. Having issue of four children, Dinah died in 1825 and Swane married Martha Elizabeth Martill in the same year; the 1851 census records that by that year the Swane family were living in Brighton, where 'Henry' was listed as a 'Book Binder Employing 2 Men' and ran his own business in this profession called 'Swane and Son'. Martha died in 1857 and Henry on 12 April 1870 at the age of 82

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£2,800

Starting price
£1400