Superb Inkermann Crimea/Baltic group, wide RN LSGC Royal Maines, HMS Algiers

A Chameleon Group of Medals. The Algiers is correctly named in the style of the ship, the wide LSGC is correctly named. The Baltic, Crimea and LSGC show identical traces of brooch mounting.

In 2019 Liverpool Medals offered for sale a trio of medals, purporting to have been awarded to Pte Thomas Wills of the Royal Marines. The trio consisted of an un-named Baltic medal, a Crimea medal correctly named to ‘THOMAS WILLS ROYAL MARINES HMS ALGIERS’ but with three copy clasps for Sebastopol, Balaklava and Alma. The final medal was a wide suspender LSGC named ‘T WILLS Pte 35^th Coy RM 21Yrs’.Both Crimea and LSGC medal have obvious signs of brooch mounts that had been removed and both have relatively new suspenders as well as brand new ribbons – all suggesting that the group had been altered either into a pair of brooches or menu holders – not an uncommon outcome for much loved medals. With these issues the dealers was offering it at a fair price, if the man was entitled to this combination of medals it would be worth probably two or three times the asking price - this would be a very unusual group, Marines did not qualify for the Alma clasp on the Crimea medal, their role was after the battle assisting with evacuating the casualties down to the ships.

Lockdown meant a planned trip to the National Archives was cancelled so I had to decide to buy the group only with desk top research. Firstly, I turned to Douglas Morris’s book on Naval Long Service and Good Conduct medals, this contains a roll of most Marines who between 1847 and 1875 received a long service and good conduct medal, the wide suspender medal is quite rare as it was only issued for this relatively short period and not every Marine who served for 21 years received an award, each depot could only award three medals per year and all of these men are recorded in the book. However, when a ship signed off the Captain could also recommend three of his crew, including Marines for the LSGC medal and Douglas Morris was unable to trace records of all these awards so there was a chance the medal could be perfectly genuine but that it just was not in the book. The author also recorded those medals that he knew had survived and any other medals he was aware of that the man had been awarded.

Success. Douglas Morris had a record that Thomas Wills, a Pte in 35^th Company of Marines at Plymouth had served for 21 years and 243 days, including 8 years and 253 days at sea, had been awarded a £5 gratuity and the medal for Long Service and Good Conduct in February 1864.This was enough to make me decide to keep the medals, even with all their numismatic faults, Thomas Wills had clearly had a long career in the Corps.

Usually, the next step would be the trip to Kew and the papers at the National Archive to find out details of Thomas’s service. However, that would have to wait for an indefinite period. The medals roll for Royal Marines who served in the Baltic are available to download form the National Archives website, however there are may rolls to look through and without the names of a ship for the Baltic medal it is easy to miss details on the hand written rolls. Kindly, Rick Hall shared his research on Crimea medals awarded to Royal Marines, he has spent many, many hours typing the details of each recipient into a spreadsheet and recording any medals he had seen for sale or in other collections. The entry for Thomas Wills confirmed the medal existed but that he was only entitled to clasps for Inkerman and Balaklava, not the combination of Sebastopol, Balaclava and Alma it had somehow acquired, he also noted the sale at Liverpool Medals and that two of the medals were badly brooched. This was good and bad news, confirmation that the Alma clasp was spurious, I had been expecting that, but much more positively, Thomas Wills seemed to have taken part in the battles of Balaklava and Inkerman. Often known as ‘The Soldiers Battle’ Inkerman plays on the heart strings of many collectors, it was hard fought in the fog, Prettyjohns won his VC and only 312 Marines took part. Rick’s research also told me that actually 354 Clasps for Inkerman were awarded to the Corps, and of those 174 had gone to the Marines of HMS Algiers and that many of them also qualified for the Baltic medal, although Thomas was not amongst the known Baltic recipients recorded on the roll.

Fast forward 18 months and the National Archive is reopen and I was able to copy Thomas Wills service record and hopefully confirm that that research so far was correct and finally discover where he served and what he did in the Corps.

Success, but again more numismatic questions. His service papers were easy to find and at last I could start to see a picture of Thomas. He was tall, 5ft 8, fully two inches taller than average in the 1840s, a fresh complexion with hazel eyes and brown hair, the surgeon confirmed he was in good health. Wills was a 22 year old labourer from Stoke Climsland, on the Devon Cornwall border when, he was enlisted by Sergeant Major King into the Plymouth Division on 3^rd May 1842. The following day he appeared before James Woon, Justice for Plymouth and so started his career in the Corps.

Thomas served a total of 22 years and five days in the Corps. During that time, he showed exemplary character at all times, his name never appeared in the defaulter’s book, or he was never caught. He served abroad for over eight years;

HMS Superb 14/2/1844 to 28/12/1848

HMS Royal William 28/2/1854 to 12/4/1954

HMS Calcutta 13/5/1854 to 24/9/1854

HMS Algiers 25/9/1854 to 5/4/1855

HMS Centurion 25/1/1856 to 29/5/1856

HMS Centurion 27/7/1856 to 7/12/1859.

His service papers also contained the following remarks, ‘this man’s name does not appear in the Divisional Defaulter’s Book – He is in possession of six good conduct marks – has been awarded a medal and gratuity, £5 – for long service and good conduct. He served I the Crimean Campaign of 1854-1855, was present at the battle of Balaclava, - also in the trenches at Inkerman and posses the Crimean Medal with clasps for Balaclava, Inkerman & Sebastopol – also the’ but these last two words are crossed out and the line ends abruptly.

So, now more questions about his medals, his papers say he was in possession of a Sebastopol clasp, and no mention of the Baltic medal, but that intriguing crossing out and Rick’s research showed only Inkerman and Balaclava clasps were issued to Thomas. To add to the mystery, Thomas’s service papers confirmed had served on board Royal William, Calcutta and Algiers in 1854, all served in the Baltic that year and the ships’ crews qualified for the Baltic medal, was this the unfinished sentence in his service papers, was he actually entitled to the medal that was with his group. It looks as if trawling the original medal rolls was going to be unavoidable, as no trace of his name can be found on the rolls for the three ships we know he served on, but the Baltic medal is brooched in similar fashion to the other two medals.

The group now has the correct clasps loosely fitted on the Crimea ribbon and is displayed with an unnamed Turkish Crimea medal. A rare combination with more research to do, the price reflects that the group is reconstituted. The final photo shows it as it listed on the Liverpool Medals website.