A Collection of Medals to The Royal Engineers

The unique M.G.S. and N.G.S. pair awarded to Major-General Sir William Reid, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., Governor of Malta, heroic veteran of countless sieges and battles with the Royal Engineers in the Peninsula and at Algiers

Military General Service 1793-1814, 8 clasps, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, St. Sebastian, Nivelle, Nive, Toulouse (Lieut., R. Engrs.); Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Algiers (Capt., R. Engrs.), both fitted with silver riband buckles, toned, good very fine (2) £8000-10000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to The Royal Engineers.

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William Reid, who was born at Kinglassie, Fifeshire on 25 April 1791, the eldest son of a Scottish clergyman, was educated at Edinburgh Academy and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. And having studied practical surveying under Colonel William Mudge, he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 10 February 1809.

Advanced to Lieutenant in April 1810, he joined Wellington's Army at Lisbon and following duty in constructing the defences at Torres Vedras, he took part in the siege of Badajos in April 1811. In the following month Reid was wounded in the knee when the enemy garrison made a daring sortie but his ‘gallant part in the encounter’ was duly noted by Lieutenant-Colonel Harcourt of the 40th Regiment. During the second siege, which was raised in June, Reid saw service in the trenches, and towards the end of the year he participated in the expedition under General Don Carlos D'Espagne, who commended Reid's 'zeal and skill' to Wellington, who in turn mentioned him in despatches.

At the start of 1812, Reid was again wounded, this time by a bullet in the leg, during the successful assault that concluded the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. Reid carried the bullet with him for the rest of his life, as it was never extracted. Soon after he was ordered back to Elvas for the third siege of Badajos which was taken by assault on 6 April. Reid's early and distinguished service was so highly regarded, that Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard Fletcher, R.E., felt compelled to write to the Inspector-General of Fortifications, and recommend him for immediate promotion to the rank of Brevet Captain. However, this, in the Royal Engineers, where promotion was strictly by seniority, was without precedent, and Fletcher's recommendation fell on deaf ears. In fact another seventy odd years were to pass before an R.E. subaltern was promoted out of turn, and then the honour fell to none other than Lieutenant Chard of Rorke's Drift fame.

In June 1812, Reid was engaged in the sieges of the Salamanca Forts and made a gallant but unsuccessful attempt to blow in a section of Fort San Vincento's counterscarp. On 23 June, he commanded a daring but costly assault by escalade in which 120 men were either killed or wounded. In the Orders of the 6th Division, Sir Henry Clinton, acknowledged Reid's 'zeal and conspicuously gallant conduct', and he was once more brought to Wellington's attention. On 22 July Reid took part in the Battle of Salamanca and entered Madrid with the Army on 12 August. At the siege of Burgos, he was involved in an unsuccessful assault by escalade and fell ill before the siege was raised on 21 October.

The next year, he was present at the battle of Vittoria, and greatly impressed General Alten of the Light Division, who wrote to Sir Richard Fletcher, stating how Reid, on 18 June, had reconnoitred a French Division on the march and had 'directed the movement of three rifle companies in such an able and spirited manner', that he could not help, 'ascribe in a great part, the success of the day to it.' In the battle of the 19th, 'he was constantly employed in rendering himself useful, exposing himself to the hottest fire, and had his horse killed under him.' His conduct at the siege of San Sebastian, however, was even more conspicuous when, on 25 July, he blew the counterscarp before dawn, and took part in the unsuccessful assault which followed. During the attack, he was struck by a musket-ball in the neck and, 'fell covered with blood which streamed from his mouth and nostrils.' At first it was thought that he had been killed, but when his black silk handkerchief which was found pressed into the wound, was removed, the bullet came away with it. In mid-August Alten wrote the aforementioned letter to Fletcher, in an attempt to see Reid rewarded but unfortunately the missive was penned four days after Sir Richard was killed at San Sebastian and nothing came of it.

In February 1814, Reid was employed in constructing the bridge of boats across the Adour, which, Napier, in his History of the Peninsular War described as 'a stupendous undertaking which must always rank among the prodigies of the war.' Next he served at the Battles of Nivelle, Nive and Toulouse before returning home at the close of hostilities, where he was at last promoted Second Captain.

In July, he joined Pakenham's expedition and was present at the attack on New Orleans on 4 January 1815 in which his friend and brother R.E. Officer, Lieutenant Wright, was killed. In the Peninsula, Lieutenant Wright had served much of his time with Reid, causing the Duke of Wellington to exercise his wit and refer to his 'Favourite youngsters' as 'Read and Write'. After the capture of Fort Bowyer, near Mobile, Reid returned home and proceeded to the Netherlands but arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Waterloo, but nevertheless he was present at the capture and occupation of Paris.

In 1816, he accompanied Lord Exmouth's expedition to Algiers and was aboard the Queen Charlotte during the bombardment on 27 August, when he and his Sappers served the guns. On the 'strong recommendation' of Wellington and Exmouth, Reid received overdue promotion to Brevet Major on 20 March 1817. Had this promotion not been given, Reid would have undoubtedly retired, his sense of frustration at lack of recognition being made all too clear in a letter he had penned to higher authority earlier that year:

‘ ... I have been in thirty separate affairs with the enemy, among which are five general actions and seven sieges, besides Algiers. In the sieges I was employed in twelve assaults, the heads of three of which I guided, and by good fortune I was engaged in all the large sallies made in these three sieges, and all these, although separate instances of being warmly engaged with the enemy, are not included in the thirty separate affairs before mentioned. I can add, still more, My Lord, that there are but two Officers in the whole Corps of Engineers that have been more under fire than myself. These are Lieutenant-Colonels Jones and Burgoyne. With such claims as these, I think your Lordship will excuse my numerous appeals, and I trust in your candour to forgive my entreating you again for brevet promotion.’

After a spell on half-pay, Reid was employed in the ordnance survey of Ireland until 1827, and afterwards in the West Country preparing measures to suppress Chartist riots. And his services were required in Barbados in 1831, after the Hurricane of 10 August demolished several Government buildings. Having repaired the storm damage, Reid undertook a serious study of storms, which eventually resulted in his publication An Attempt to Develop the Law of Storms by Means of Facts, Arranged by Means of Place and Time, etc. This latter work would eventually lead to him being awarded the Military C.B.

In 1835, Reid was again placed on half-pay when he joined the British Legion, raised and commanded by his friend Sir George De Lacy Evans, for service in Spain, against Don Carlos. As brigade commander Reid saw a good deal of fighting, and was present at the siege of Bilbao, the attack of Arlaban and the siege of San Sebastian. At the latter engagement, ‘while standing on the very same spot where he had so many years before been wounded in the neck, and had just informed a brother Officer of the fact, he was again wounded, and, curiously, also in the neck.’

Following his return from the Carlist War, he was appointed Governor of the Bermuda Islands where his many philanthropic acts earned him the sobriquet of the 'Good Governor'. In 1841, he was promoted regimental Lieutenant-Colonel and became Governor-in-Chief of Windward West India Islands. Here too, he devoted himself to the 'amelioration of the condition of the coloured people, and to the development of the colonies' resources. He resigned after a dispute with the Colonial Office in 1848 and resumed military duties at Woolwich. On 12 February 1850, Reid was appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Great Exhibition and it was principally due to his determination that the event opened as planned. He was rewarded for this work in 1851 with a Civil K.C.B.

Sir William Reid's final assignment was as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. During the Crimean War, with the assistance of the Admiral at the station, Sir Houston Stewart, he did everything in his power to run the island as an effective staging post. Just as he had improved the lot of the islands in the West Indies, he performed many public-spirited acts in Malta, including the founding of an agricultural school and the setting up of barometers in public places to warn of impending gales. For these services he was made a K.C.M.G.

Promoted regimental Colonel in 1854, and Major-General in 1856, Reid returned to England in 1858. He did not live long afterwards and on 31 October of that year he died at 117 Gloucester Terrace, London. In Hamilton, Bermuda, a grey granite obelisk with a medallion bust and inscription was raised in memory of this gallant soldier and able administrator, photographs of which accompany the Lot, together with a wealth of research and an original letter from Reid to Captain T. F. Simmons, R.A., inviting him to join the British Legion in Spain, dated 5 September 1835, a few days before his embarkation.