Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Lissa (George Bally.) naming contemporarily engraved in upright serif capitals, fitted with B. Bailey Coventry silver ribbon brooch with damaged ‘fouled anchor’ device on ribbon, toned, very fine £1,000-£1,400

Possibly a later claim but no recipient of this name can be traced on the various published N.G.S. rolls for this or any other clasp. However, a search of the Description Books of those ships present at Lissa revealed a certain ‘Georgeo O’Dallie’ Landsman aboard Amphion, who transferred to a succession of ships shortly after the action (13 March 1811), eventually joining Warrior on 13 November 1811. He is borne on her books as No. 336 Geo. Dallie (sometimes Dallia) who, it transpires was born in 1789 in Trieste, Italy. ‘Lissa’, an action between four British frigates and a combined fleet of French and Venetian ships, took place in the Adriatic; George Dallie was in his home waters. ‘Georgio Dallie’ was discharged from Warrior on 9 November 1814 during an apparent cull of all non-British crew members. They went as a body on the same day, all justified by the entry “Foreigner” as the cause for discharge - Danes, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, et al.

Please refer to the article ‘The Mysterious Mr Bally’ by G. W. Hawkes, O.M.R.S. Journal, September 2007, a copy of which is sold with the lot.