A Collection of Medals to the 23rd Foot Royal Welsh Fusiliers

A fine Napoleonic War pair awarded to Colonel John Enoch, 23rd Foot, slightly wounded at Albuhera, severely wounded at Salamanca and later Assistant Quarter-Master General

Military General Service 1793-1814, 4 clasps, Albuhera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca (J. Enoch, Lieut. 23rd Foot.); Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. & Adjutant, J. Enoch. 23rd Regiment Foot, R.W.F.) fitted with later silver bar suspension, rank and name contemporarily re-engraved; together with two contemporary framed portrait miniatures of Enoch and his wife, both in oils, the latter signed ‘Schmit 1818’, loop detached from frame of the first; and four original documents, comprising: hand written Statement of Service addressed to M-General Freeth, K.H., Royal Hospital, Chelsea; a printed card from Field Marshal His Grace The Duke of Wellington, K.G., to The Military Secretary at Horse Guards, signed in ink ‘On Her Majestys Service - Wellington’, and with three red cancellations (1846 or 1847), probably cut down from a larger card but an interesting piece of Postal history; a printed Invitation from the Duke of Wellington to Lt. Colonel Enoch, to a Ball at Apsley House on Friday the 14th May [1851?], ‘to have the honour of meeting Their Royal Highnefses The Duchefs of Cambridge & The Princefs Mary’; and an official invitation from Norfolk, Earl Marshal, to Lt. Colonel Enoch, to attend the Funeral of the Late Field Marshal The Duke of Wellington, K.G., at St Paul’s Cathedral, generally very fine or better and rare (Lot) £8,000-£10,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 23rd Foot Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

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John Enoch was born at Carmarthen, Wales, on 1 March 1785. He joined the Army, aged 24, as Ensign in the 23rd Foot, on 30 March 1809; Lieutenant, August 1811; Lieutenant & Adjutant, September 1813 to January 1823. He served with the expedition to Walcheren and at the siege of Flushing in 1809; in the Peninsula from 1810 to 1813, including the sieges of Badajoz and Olivença in 1811; battle of Albuhera, 16 May 1811 (slightly wounded); actions of Fuente Guinalda and Elboden, 25th, 26th, and 27th September 1811; siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, January 1812; sieges of Badajoz, March and April 1812; battle of Salamanca, July 1812 (severely wounded and horse killed under him); battle of Waterloo, storming of Cambrai, and capture of Paris, 1815. He received the Waterloo Medal and subsequently the M.G.S. with a combination of four clasps unique to an officer in the 23rd Foot.

John Enoch married Ann Farr at Arras, France, on 26 February 1816, who bore him one daughter and one son. He was promoted to Captain in July 1830, to Major in April 1846, and was placed on Half Pay the following month. In February 1851 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, unattached, and appointed Assistant Quarter-Master General on the Staff at Headquarters. Enoch was finally promoted to Colonel in November 1854, and died in London on 13 July 1855. Sold with copied research.