Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Waterloo Medal awarded to Sergeant William Porteous, Royal Scots Greys, who was severely wounded with eight lance wounds in different parts of the body; his Commanding Officer later described him as ‘a worthy, good man, dreadfully wounded at Waterloo, a loss to the regiment’

Waterloo 1815 (Serj. William Porteous, 2nd or R.N. Brit. Reg. Drag.) fitted with contemporary silver clip and bar suspension, some contact wear to the obverse, otherwise very fine and better £7,000-£9,000

Provenance: An Important Collection of Waterloo Medals, Buckland Dix & Wood, December 1994.

William Porteous was born in Stenton in the county of Haddington, and enlisted at the age of seventeen on 22 April 1794. He was promoted to Corporal in December 1802, and to Sergeant in November 1804. He was a Sergeant in Captain Barnard’s troop at Waterloo where he suffered no less than ‘eight lance wounds in different parts of the body’, in addition to his left elbow joint becoming anchylosed from another wound. His wounds were treated at Brussels between June and September 1815, and he was discharged to pension at Chelsea Hospital on 30 October 1816, his papers carrying the following commendation from his commanding officer, Lieut. Colonel Isaac Clarke: ‘A worthy, good man, dreadfully wounded at Waterloo, a loss to the regiment.’ Sold with copied discharge papers.