Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

China 1842 (James Uniacke, Bt. Maj. R.M. H.M.S. Cornwallis) very fine, a rare and senior casualty £1400-1800

James Uniacke was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Marines on 28 August 1804. According to the statement of services in Hart’s Army List ‘He was in the general action with, and defeat of, the combined fleets of France and Spain, 22nd July, 1805; the Spanish line-of-battle ship L’Firme having struck, he was ordered to board and take possession of her, with forty marines, and had charge of several hundred prisoners until their arrival at Plymouth, from which period until May 1815 he was on active service, particularly on the coast of France and Spain, the West Indies, and during the whole of the expedition to America. He was present at the siege of Cadiz, and expedition to Malaga; and subsequently in the Sea Horse with Sir James Alexander Gordon at the capture and sinking of a large French corvette mounting 20 guns. Present at the capture of Alexandria, and repeatedly engaged in action with the enemy while up the Potomac, and debarked with the marines of the squadron. He was also present at the advance on Baltimore, and in the actions before New Orleans. At the capture of the New Orleans’ flotilla in 1814 he was severely wounded, and one of the few survivors in the Barge of the Sea Horse, with Captain Lockyer, who led the boats of the squadron, boarded and carried the American Commodore, with the loss of the Lieutenant, both Midshipmen, and several of the crew killed, and every individual wounded. Captain Lockyer (who received three gun-shot wounds, and the Lieutenant fourteen alongside of him) bore testimony to his conduct in his public Dispatches in the following words:- “First Lieut. Uniacke, of the Royal Marines, (who is in general a volunteer on these occasions) was most severely wounded, and gallantly supported me.” For his services on this occasionhe was presented with a reward from the Patriotic Fund. He has been repeatedly engaged in battery and boat actions.’

Uniacke was promoted to Captain in August 1827, and received his Brevet Majority on 23 November 1841, whilst serving with the Marines in China. He ‘died in action’ during the storming and capture of the City of Chin Keang Foo, at the entrance of the South Grand Canal in the Yang-tse-Keang, on 21 July 1842, senior officer of Marines on board the Cornwallis, the officers of which ship erected a monument to his memory in Happy Valley Cemetery, Hong Kong. A victim to sunstroke, Uniacke’s remains were interred on Golden Island.