Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Java (T. W. Taylor, Capt. 24th Dgns. & A.D.C.) edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise very fine and unique to the regiment £1500-2000

According to Colonel R. S. Liddell, in his Memoirs of the Tenth Royal Hussars, Thomas William Taylor ‘entered the army in 1804, receiving a commission in the Carabiniers. In 1805 he went to the Mediterranean as D.A.A.G. under Sir James Craig. In 1807 he received the appointment of Military Secretary to the Governor-General of India (Lord Minto), and remained in that country for seven years. During that period - in 1812 - he took part in the expedition to Java as A.D.C. to General Gillespie. In 1814 he returned to England, and shortly afterwards was appointed to a troop in the 10th Hussars, went with them to Flanders, and took part in the Waterloo campaign. He was on piquet on the morning of the 18th June 1815, and it was to him that a Prussian staff officer, patrolling, brought the report of the advance of Blucher. This important intelligence Captain Taylor conveyed himself with the greatest despatch to the Duke of Wellington. At the close of the battle his squadron was engaged in the pursuit subsequent to the repulse of the French Guard. By the death of Major Howard in the action he obtained the Majority of the regiment and a Brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy. He went on half-pay in 1825, but the following year was appointed Commandant of the Cavalry Riding Establishment at St. John’s Wood, which apppointment he held until 1831. In 1833 he became Groom of the Bedchamber to His Majesty King William IV, and in 1837 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; in 1853, Colonel of the 17th Lancers. He received the silver medal and clasp for Java, the Waterloo Medal, and Companion of the Bath. He died [at Haccombe, Devon] on 8 January 1854.’

See also Lots 988 and 994 for further family awards.