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Auction: 8016 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 278

The K.C.B. and Army Gold Cross Group of Three to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Dyer, Royal Artillery, Who Was Killed Whilst Gallantly Attempting to Save the Lives of Two Ladies in a Run-Away Carriage, 1816 a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Military Division, Knight Commander´s (K.C.B.) Embroidered Star, 78mm b) Army Gold Cross for Pyrenees, Orthes, Nive, Toulouse, one clasp, St. Sebastian (Lieut. Col. John Dyer Royal Arty.), with original gold swivel-ring suspension, gold suspension ring, with gold top riband buckle, lacking neck riband fitment c) Field Officer´s Small Army Gold Medal for Pyrenees (Major John Dyer, Rl. Arty.), glazed in lunettes, with gold riband buckle, nearly extremely fine (3) Estimate £ 24,000-28,000 K.C.B. London Gazette 4.1.1815 180. Lieutenant-Colonel John Dyer, Royal Artillery. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Dyer, K.C.B., born April 1772; Gentleman Cadet, Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, March 1787; Commissioned Second Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, April 1793; Lieutenant, January 1794; Captain, April 1803; Major, July 1810; served during the Peninsula War, 1812-14; Lieutenant-Colonel, April 1814; created one of the first K.C.B.s following the expansion of the Order after the Napoleonic Wars, January 1815; received the accolade of knighthood, 12th April 1815; killed when he was run over by Colonel Fyers´ carriage at Woolwich, 3rd July 1816: according to family tradition he had attempted to grab the reins of the carriage´´s lead horse to stop it from bolting, fell, and was run-over and killed in front of the two ladies in the carriage. His splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice was an inspiration to all who witnessed it. His son, Sir Thomas Dyer, 7th Bt., was born in 1799 and later followed into the Royal Artillery.

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£37,000