Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Defence of Gibraltar 1779-83, “Red Hot Shot” Medal, engraved on copper, 38mm with integral loop for suspension (T. Dodd) very fine and rare £2,000-£3,000

From the collection of J. Lawson Whalley, which was sold in 1884. Sold again in 1887, this medal next appeared in the collection of Lieut.-Colonel J. Murray, which was sold at Sotheby in May 1926, and in the collection of H. J. Loxley, which was sold at Glendining in October 1949, when it was purchased by Seaby, from whom it was bought by John Tamplin in July 1951, and sold as part of his collection by Dix Noonan Webb in September 2002.

Some ten examples of this unusual medal have been recorded, including two held by the National Maritime Museum and another in the Regimental Museum of The Royal Norfolk Regiment. Opinions differ as to the origins of these ‘awards’; some state that they were bestowed by commanding officers on deserving soldiers, others that they were privately purchased as souvenirs and that they were made by an armourer or enterprising jeweller in Gibraltar.

A Thomas Dodd is recorded in the Pay List and Muster Roll taken at Gibraltar dated 1 May 1781, for 2nd Battalion, Royal Artillery, being in the Company commanded by Captain Vaughan Lloyd, R.A. His rank is given as Mattross and he was still serving in the same company in Gibraltar in April 1783. Thomas Dodd was born in the Parish of Dunce, county Berwick, Scotland, and was enlisted by Captain Donaldson in Edinburgh on 15 December 1779, aged 19. A cordwainer by trade, he could read but not write. Dodd was promoted to Bombardier on 9 October 1804, and transferred to the Invalid Battalion on 31 March 1806 (WO 69/75 and 10/588 refer).

Sold with copies of the articles written on the Red-Hot Shot Medal by Lieut.-Colonel M. E. S. Laws, O.B.E., M.C., from The Gunner, May 1951, and by John Tamplin, M.B.E., T.D., from the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Winter 1953. The latter article cautions that ‘There is no proof that this is the same [Thomas] Dodd who had the red-hot shot medal, but it is possible that this is so.’