An Important Collection of Medals for the Maori Wars, 1845-1866

Six: Commander H. B. Beresford, Royal Navy

Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (H. B. Beresford, Mate) fitted with silver ribbon buckle, first initial corrected and shown as ‘J. B.’ on the roll; New Zealand 1845-66, reverse dated 1846 to 1847 (Lieut. Hy. B. Beresford, H.M.S. Calliope) officially impressed naming; Crimea 1854-56, 2 clasps, Sebastopol, Azoff (H. B. Beresford, Commander, H.M.S. Medina) contemporary engraved naming, clasps loose as issued; St Jean d’Acre 1840, silver, fitted with scroll suspension and silver ribbon buckle; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed, fitted with Indian Mutiny suspension; Royal Humane Society, large silver medal (Successful), (Lieut. H. B. Beresford, R.N., H.M.S. Medina 5 July 1855) fitted with swivel-ring and bar suspension, the N.Z. medal extremely fine, otherwise with light contact marks and traces of old lacquer, generally very fine or better (6) £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, An Important Collection of Medals for the Maori Wars, 1845-1866.

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Beresford's New Zealand War medal was issued on 14 November 1870. 62 medals were issued to H.M.S. Calliope (13 to R.N. officers, 38 to R.N. ratings, and 11 to R.M. N.C.Os. and men) of which 35 are known including one with reverse dated 1846, one with reverse undated, and the rest with reverses dated 1846-1847.



Henry Barre Beresford was born on 5 July 1816. He entered the Royal Navy as First Class Volunteer on Actaeon in August 1829, and became Midshipman of the Sapphire in May 1835. He was appointed as Mate on the Imogene in South America in 1836, and was present as Mate on the Vanguard in the operations of 1840 on the coast of Syria. He was made Lieutenant on 6 June 1842 and posted, the following October, to the Excellent gunnery ship at Portsmouth. In July 1845 he was posted to Calliope, in which vessel he served in the East Indies and off New Zealand, where he was several times personally engaged with the rebel natives, until January 1849, when he returned to England and was paid off. Beresford fell foul of the Admiralty when, on 11 January 1849, he was severely reprimanded for the gross state of discipline on board Calliope. In April 1851, he was posted to Penelope until June 1851, when he was appointed to the command of the Spy brigantine, of 3 guns, on the West Coast of Africa, where he captured two boats full of slaves, and also a Portuguese schooner, which was ultimately returned to her owners, who had to pay the expenses of the suit. Paid off in December 1853, he was next posted, in May 1854 to the Medina steamer of 4 guns, and, in January 1856, to the Peacock gun-boat. In the Medina, Beresford was actively employed in the Black Sea. He accompanied the expedition to Kertck; was engaged in the attack, which lasted an hour and a half, on the fort of Arabat, mounting 30 guns (despatches London Gazette 1855, pp. 2297-8); and was present at the destruction of the stores and of several parts of the town of Taganrog.

Beresford was awarded the Royal Humane Society's Silver Medal on 19th September 1856 (Case 15,795) for successfully rescuing Private Charles Robinson, R.M., in the following circumstances:

‘On the 5th of February, 1855, a private of Marines, belonging to H.M.S. Medina, accidentally fell overboard into the Bosphorus, off Constantinople; and the weather being very severe, hard frost and snow, and dark, he must have been drowned, having on at the time his great coat, belt, and bayonet; when Lieutenant H. B. Beresford, R.N., who was sitting in his cabin, on hearing the cry, instantly ran on deck, and on being told that the sentry on the gangway had fallen overboard, instantly took off his coat and shoes, and jumped over the gangway into the sea, and swam towards the stern of the ship, where the current, which was very strong, had by this time taken the marine, and succeeded in reaching him; by this time nothing of him was seen above the water except the collar of his coat, which he providentially got hold of, and held him up until a boat came to their assistance, when he was hauled on board in a state of insensibility, and remained in his bed for four or five days, when he recovered.’

He was promoted to Commander on 10 May 1856, and, in October 1860 transferred to Edinburgh, as additional for Coastguard. He became supernumerary in January 1864 and retired on 1 April 1870. Commander Beresford died on 2nd January 1871.