orders, decorations, campaign medals and militaria - Spink

November 22, 2012 - LoNdoN
152
Naval General Service 1793-1840, one clasp,
Guadaloupe (J.L. Thompson.), good very fine
£1,200-1,600
John L. Thompson served as Acting Master in H.M.S. Blonde
for the combined naval and military operations commanded
by Vice Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander Cochrane and
Lieutenant-General Sir George Beckwith which culminated
in the capture of the French-held island of Guadaloupe,
January-February 1810.
Lieutenant John Last Thompson, R.N., born 1779; joined
the Royal Navy, 1804, and was posted for service as Acting
Master in H.M.S. Snipe later the same year; served as Master
in H.M. ships Snipe, Volcano, Camilla and Blonde, on the
Home Station, Newfoundland and in the West Indies, May
1805 - April 1810; when ‘in the Volcano he was often in
action with the enemy’s batteries and flotilla at Boulogne,
and saw, as a volunteer, much hazardous boat-service. On 24
Sept. 1809, being then in the Blonde, he offered, of his own
accord, to cut out a privateer schooner from under two
batteries in the south-east part of Guadaloupe; and while
endeavouring to accomplish this object he lost his right arm,
and was otherwise much injured in the side by a grape-shot
shattering his musket. He was in consequence presented by
the Patriotic Society with the sum of 150l, and was allotted,
7 May, 1810, a pension of 91l. 5s per annum. Prior to uniting
in the Blonde in the operations immediately connected with
the reduction of Guadaloupe, Mr. Thompson aided, in Dec.
1809, in Anse la Barque, the French 40-gun frigates Loire
and Seine, together with a heavy battery by which they had
been defended. He had witnessed in the same ship the
surrender, in Dec. 1807, of the Danish islands of St.Thomas
and Ste. Croix’ (O’Byrne refers); nominated Acting-
Lieutenant of the Statira and Neptune, before being
promoted Lieutenant, December 1810; employed in
command of a Signal station at Gunton, near Lowestoffe,
1812-1814.
PROVENANCE:
Seaby July 1963
Christie February 1982
152 153
107
153
Naval General Service 1793-1840, one clasp,
Guadaloupe (William Driver.), very fine
£800-1,000
William Driver served as Ordinary Seaman in H.M.S.
Melampus for the combined naval and military operations
commanded by Vice Admiral the Honourable Sir Alexander
Cochrane and Lieutenant-General Sir George Beckwith
which culminated in the capture of the French-held island of
Guadaloupe, January-February 1810.
PROVENANCE:
Glendinning July 1909 (51/-)