A Collection of Napoleonic War Medals

The Reverend E. C. Frith, Chaplain to the Forces, one of only three Chaplains to receive the Peninsula War Medal, who went by the name of ‘the fighting parson’, a ‘gallant soldier, who considered it part of his duty to accompany the troops into action, when he often wore a red coat and exposed himself to the hottest fire’

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes, Toulouse (The Rev. E. C. Frith, Chaplain to the Forces) fitted with silver ribbon buckle, extremely fine £4000-5000

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

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Provenance: Glendining, April 1964; Spink, November 1977; Dix Noonan Webb, La Crème de la Crème, 2000.

The Reverend E. C. Frith was one of ten Chaplains serving with Wellington’s Army at the end of the Napoleonic wars, and one of only three to claim the M.G.S. medal. The others were the Rev. William Bradford, for Corunna, and the Rev. Henry J. Symons, for Corunna, Nivelle, Orthes and Toulouse. One of his descendants, Frederick John Cockayne Frith, was killed in action during the Zulu war as Lieutenant & Adjutant in the 17th Lancers.

Edward Cockayne Frith was born at North Cray, Kent, on 13 January 1781. He matriculated to St John’s College, Oxford, on 12 July 1798, aged 17, gaining B.A. in 1802, and M.A. in 1809. He was appointed a Chaplain to the Forces on 4 May 1811 and served in the Peninsula, attached to the 2nd Division, from July 1811 to April 1812, and from July 1812 to April 1814. He served with the Army of Occupation in the immediate aftermath of Waterloo, as a Brigade Chaplain, ranking as a major.

A good account of Frith’s services in the Peninsula is given by Anthony Brett-James, in his chapter on ‘Chaplains and Religion’, in his authoritative work, Life in Wellington’s Army:

Undoubtedly the most written-about and admired chaplain was Edward Cockayne Frith who went by the name of the ‘fighting parson’ in the 2nd Division to which he was attached. Besides being an excellent ‘expounder of the sacred text’, he was a gallant soldier, who considered it part of his duty to accompany the troops into action, when he often wore a red coat and exposed himself to the hottest fire. Displaying great courage and physical strength, he rescued wounded soldiers in several engagements, and at the battle on the heights of Maya, for instance, carried on his back, one by one, three or four badly wounded officers to the village a mile and a half below.

Several anecdotes are told about Mr Frith. On 31 July 1813, being up with the leading columns and noticing that the artillery officer was at a loss to find a road through a wood that was hindering progress, he immediately placed himself at the head of the guns and led them through to the spot where they were to open fire on the retreating French. On seeing the chaplain in this new role some of the Gordon Highlanders felt themselves inclined to treat themselves to a laugh at his expense, and Lieutenant James Hope records the exchange of dialogue that ensued:

‘One of them vociferated, “gude guide us, look at the clergyman leading the artillery;” to which a second having added, “Am sure he has nae business to place himself in danger,” a third, by way of rejoinder, said, “Haud your tongue, ye gowk, he’s the very man that should be here - he’s prepared.”

Another day a party of staff officers were trying to find a ford for the passage by the army of a deep and rapid stream. Most of their horses refused the water, but up rode Frith. ‘I dare say my nag will take it,’ he remarked. Within a few minutes he had reached the far bank and then returned to show that it could be done.

The Reverend E. C. Frith died at Leamington on 26 January 1848, and was buried three days later in St Michael’s, Bishops Itchington, Warwickshire.