Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 8 clasps, Busaco, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse (Fras. Hy. Hart, Lieut. 39th Foot) edge bruise, otherwise good very fine £5000-6000

Ex Elson collection 1963. Only two officers and three other ranks in the 39th Foot received the maximum 8 clasps.

The medal is sold with an exceptional series of original documents, including War Office letter awarding Hart a payment of £310 in respect of his wounds received at Albuhera and in the Pyrenees (dated 2 May 1816), and another confirming the continuation of his £70 per annum pension (dated 2 June 1818); Hart’s handwritten copy of his letter of application for the M.G.S., which contains a good account of his Peninsula service, especially at Albuhera, recounted below; Horse Guards transmittal letter and addressed envelope for the M.G.S. (dated 8 February 1849); three parchment Commission Warrants for the ranks of Lieutenant in the 39th (or the East Middlesex) Regiment (dated 15 January 1807), Captain in the 39th (or the Dorsetshire) Regiment (dated 8 April 1825), and Major in the Army (dated 28 June 1838); and a copy of his Will and Grant of Probate (dated 11 June 1867).

Francis Henry Hart was appointed an Ensign in the 39th Foot in January 1805, aged 17 years, and was advanced to Lieutenant in January 1807. He saw extensive service in the Peninsula, from 1808, and was senior Lieutenant of the Light Company at the battle of Busaco, and also at Albuhera, on which occasion, he states, it ‘had scarcely got into line when a shell fell within a foot of the front rank & thinking that one had better fall than perhaps half a dozen, I took it up & succeeded in running with it about three yards when in the act of throwing it from me, it burst, undoing my cap from my head & slightly wounded me in the temple. In the more advanced part of the day, I had my left arm shattered close to the shoulder, was shot through the chest, & in the ball’s exit splintered two ribs.’

He was again Senior Lieutenant of the Light Company at the first siege of Badajoz but at Vittoria, and thereafter, he commanded No. 4 Company. He was severely wounded through the right arm in the Pass of Maya, in the Pyrenees, on 25 July 1813, and subsequently served at the battles of Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. In respect of his wounds at Albuhera and in the Pyrenees, Hart was granted two years pay and a pension of £70 per annum. He was promoted to Captain in April 1825 but promptly sold his Company and went on the half-pay of the 84th Foot, later transferring to the half-pay of the 90th Foot and becoming Major on June 1838.