Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Spartan 3 May 1810 (Simcoe Baynes. Volr.) some very minor edge bruises, otherwise better than very fine £6000-8000

Provenance: Whitehouse Collection 1869; Fergus Gowans Collection 1947-71, disposed of privately; Hawkes Collection 1994.

Approximately 30 clasps issued for ‘Spartan 3 May 1810’. Simcoe Baynes is confirmed as a Volunteer 1st Class aboard the Spartan in the action with the Franco-Neapolitan frigate Ceres and consorts, and the capture of the brig Sparviere in the Bay of Naples.

General Simcoe Baynes served as a Midshipman in the Royal Navy for three years, and in 1809 was present at the capture of Ischia, Zante, Cephalonica, and Cerigo, and was in the action of the Spartan frigate in the Bay of Naples, 3 May 1810 (War Medal).

Baynes joined the army and was appointed an Ensign in the Royal Corsican Rangers on 24 June 1812, becoming Lieutenant on 28 December 1815. He served in the Ionian Islands from 1812 to 1817, including the capture of Paxo in 1813, and occupation of Corfu on the evacuation by the French in 1814. He transferred, as Lieutenant, to the 8th Foot on 9 September 1819, and was with a Detachment at Zante on 21 October 1821, defending a Turkish man-of-war in an attack made by the Greeks, and was specially selected and actively employed in the disarmament of the inhabitants which followed. Promoted to Captain in June 1824, and to Major in October 1835, he served in the West Indies during the emancipation of the slaves in 1834, and served in North America during the boundary question in 1839-40.

Baynes was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel unattached, 26 October 1841; afterwards Lieutenant-Colonel, Royal Malta Fencibles, and promoted to Colonel, 11 November 1851; Major-General, 26 October 1858; Colonel of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot, 27 March 1863; Lieutenant-General, 28 August 1865; General, 14 December 1873. General Simcoe Baynes’ most varied and interesting naval and military career came to an end on the Island of Malta where he died on 13 September 1875, aged 78.