Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Brigade Surgeon J. J. McCarthy, Army Medical Department

China 1857-60, 2 clasps, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860 (Staff Asst. Surgn. J. J. Macarthy [sic].) officially impressed naming; Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Surgn. Maj. J. Mc.Carthy. A.M.D.); France, Second Empire, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, gold, and enamel, a couple of scratches/ digs to obverse field of first; minor edge bruise to second; and minor damage to tips of points on last, with resulting enamel damage, and additional enamel damage to mottos around central medallions and to ‘jewels’ in crown, otherwise good very fine and better and a unique combination of awards (3) £1,000-£1,400

Only five Britons were awarded the Legion of Honour for their services in China, 1856-64:
Lieutenant-General Sir James Hope Grant and Vice-Admiral Sir James Hope (both Second Class); Colonel G. G. Foley (Third Class); and Lieutenant H. C. Chattley, Fane’s Irregular Cavalry, and Staff Assistant Surgeon J. J. McCarthy (both Fifth Class). McCarthy’s award is therefore a unique award to the Army Medical Service.

French Legion of Honour, Chevalier, London Gazette 14 November 1862:
‘The Queen has been pleased to give and grant unto Staff Assistant Surgeon James Joseph McCarthy, MD, Her Majesty's Royal licence and permission that he accept and wear the Insignia of the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour of the Fifth Class, which His Majesty the Emperor of the French has been pleased to confer upon him, as a mark of His Imperial Majesty’s approbation of his services, while under fire, to the French soldiers, wounded during the recent operations in China, and especially to the late Admiral Protet at the moment he was mortally wounded.’

James Joseph McCarthy was born in Killarney, Ireland, on 27 April 1835 and qualified as a Licentiate of Midwifery (LM) in Dublin in 1855. He was appointed a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) in England in 1857, and qualified as a Doctor of Medicine (MD) at Queen's University, Ireland, in 1858. McCarthy entered the Army the same year being appointed Assistant Surgeon on 16 November 1858 and served during the Second China War in 1860, being present at the capture of the Taku Forts and the march on and capture of Pekin, and subsequently in the Taeping Rebellion thereafter until 1862 (Medal and two clasps). He was awarded the French Legion of Honour, Fifth Class, for his services in the Taeping Rebellion, and was Mentioned by Brigadier-General C. Staveley, Commanding British Troops in China, in his Despatch dated Najow, 18 May 1862 (London Gazette 18 July 1862):
‘I have the honour to report for your information the capture yesterday of the fortified town of Najow by the allied British and French forces, and I might have added with trifling loss, had it not been for the death of Admiral Protet commanding His Imperial Majesty's Naval Forces in China, who was unfortunately shot through the heart during the advance of the storming party. In Admiral Protet the French Navy has lost a most able and zealous officer, and one who’s hearty energetic co-operation greatly conducted to the success of the recent operations.’

A more detailed report on the operations appears in the London Gazette of 5 August 1862, in which the casualties during the capture of Najow are recorded as: 31st Foot, five Privates severely wounded; Royal Navy, one Seaman severely wounded and one Staff Clerk, Military Staff Department severely wounded. The French suffered Admiral Protet killed, two Naval Officers severely wounded, two Marines severely wounded and five sailors severely wounded, probably all treated by McCarthy. The circumstances of the death of the Admiral and of the wounding of so many others are described by Caleb Carr in The Devil Soldier:

‘On Friday, May 16, the expeditionary force arrived at Nan-ch’iao, [Najow] and on the seventeenth, Admiral Protet and General Staveley undertook a personal reconnaissance of the city’s defences. Ward, as always, assumed his position at the head of his troops, preparing to storm Nan-ch’iao after the guns had done their work. In the afternoon, the artillery barrage began, and before long the usual sight of Taipings fleeing the city was noticed. At this point, General Stavele ordered the guns to cease fire and, together with his staff, began to dash about the walls looking for a suitable spot for storming. He was followed by a French contingent under Admiral Protet, moving at double time.
And then, according to the [North China] Herald correspondent, “Lo and behold! The cunning defenders, who, with the exception of their guns’ crews and a few musket parties, had been lying behind and at the bottom of their wall to escape from our fire, uttered most appalling yells, manned their walls, and gave us a well-sustained sharp fire of small arms, well-directed.”
In an instant, the carnival atmosphere was dispelled, for among those who fell in the hail of Taiping fire was Admiral Protet. A rebel musket ball hit him full in the chest, and he was flung back into the arms of his soldiers. The admiral was quickly taken to safety, but his wound proved mortal.’

McCarthy was appointed Assistant Surgeon of the 5th Regiment of Foot (Northumberland Fusiliers) on 10 July 1866, and served with them until he returned to the Army Medical Staff on 16 March 1872. Promoted to the rank of Surgeon Major on 18 October 1873, he was in medical charge of the 70th Hospital, at Subathu, near Simla, in 1878. He was appointed to take medical charge of the 3rd (The Kumaon) Goorkha Regiment (later 3rd Queen Alexandra’s Own Gurkha Rifles) from 6 December 1879, but was transferred away shortly afterwards. McCarthy joined the regiment after the capture of Kandahar, and, presumably, left before the battle of Ahmed Khel. It is possible that his Second Afghan War Medal was earned with this unit (his name does not appear on the Medical Staff roll).

Hart’s Army List records that McCarthy was Mentioned in Despatches for Afghanistan, although no trace of this has been found in the London Gazette. He retired with the honorary rank of Brigade Surgeon on 5 December 1883, after 25 years’ service as an Army Surgeon.

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