A Collection of Napoleonic War Medals

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel Charles West, Scots Guards, who carried home Military Despatches after Talavera, and was severely wounded in the arm at Bayonne and in the leg at Waterloo, where he played a distinguished part in the defence of Hougoumont

Military General Service 1793-1814, 3 clasps, Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria (C. E. West, Capt. 3rd Foot Gds.) fitted with attractive gilt ribbon device inscribed with three battle honours; Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. Col. Char. West, 2nd Batt. 3rd Reg. Guards.) fitted with original steel clip and bar suspension and oval silver ribbon buckle, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (2) £8000-10000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Napoleonic War Medals.

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Provenance: Baldwin, June 1966.

Charles Edward West was born in 1789, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Augustus West, 3rd Foot Guards. His military career is amply described in the following obituary notice from The Times of 21 October, 1872:

‘We have to record the death of Lieut.-Col. C. E. West, late of the 3rd Regiment of Guards, on the 17th inst., at 8, Lower Sandgate-road, Folkestone, at the age of 83. In 1804 he entered the army from the Royal Military College, Marlow, and obtained an Ensign’s commission in the 3rd Regiment of Guards. He was posted to Lieut.-Col. West’s company, in January, 1804, and accompanied the regiment on the expedition to Denmark, and was present at the siege of Copenhagen. On his return to England he embarked, with his regiment, in the expedition to Portugal and Spain, and after the battle of Talavera he obtained his promotion to the rank of Captain and Lieutenant in the 3rd Guards.

He was selected to take charge of the despatches to England, and ordered to embark on board the frigate Filla, commanded by the Hon. Captain Rodney, and proceeded without delay with the despatches to England. He immediately afterwards returned to Portugal and rejoined his battalion at Albuera, in camp. He moved with the army in advance upon the French army to Salamanca. He was present at that battle and at the siege of Burgos, and at the battles of Vittoria and St. Sebastian. He was afterwards at Bayonne, where he was severely wounded, during the sortie, by a musket-bullet in the arm, which was much shattered. He embarked with his regiment and returned to England, promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Col., with the command of a company in the 3rd Guards, and immediately proceeded with the regiment to join the army at Brussels, preparatory to the battle of Waterloo. He was present at Quatre Bras and at Waterloo, where he again received a severe wound, which disabled and retained him for a long time in the hospital. He retired from the service by leave, with the highest reputation for honourable conduct and the courage he had displayed in the great battles in which he had taken part.’