Offered is a Crimea Medal (1854-56) to Robert Porter, 5th Dragoon Guards, who died of disease in at Scutari, Crimea in November 1854. Medal with clasp SEBASTOPOL, impressed named R PORTER. Comes with copy medal roll & basic research. Was born at Nottingham and enlisted into the 5th Dragoon Guards on 29 April 1839. A framework knitter by trade, the muster rolls for 1841 record him serving at Manchester & Cahir, and in 1851 at Longford, Ireland. The Heavies contained the Scots Greys, the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, The 1st Royal Dragoons, the 4th and the 5th Dragoon Guards. Each regiment was composed of 2 squadrons of at least 155 men, but they had difficulty finding enough men to provide that number. The 5th DG had to borrow 15 men from the 7th DG so that on embarkation they numbered 314 all ranks, and 295 horses. They sailed from Queenstown (Cobh), co. Cork, to the Black Sea on the’Himalaya’, a voyage that took 16 days. The voyage was terrible for the horses, and the men were fed very old salted food. They were taken to Varna where many died of cholera. The 5th DG suffered badly so that by 28th Aug three officers and 34 men had died (more than 10%). The army was mobilised and sailed eastwards across the Black Sea on 7th Sep 1854. The Heavy Brigade were left behind for some reason and had to wait for the empty transports to return for them. The first of the Heavies to arrive at the Crimea were the Scots Greys who came straight from England without stopping at Varna so were untouched by the cholera. The Battle of the Alma was fought on 21st Sep, before the Heavy Brigade set sail. They did not reach the Crimea until the end of September 1854. Robert Porter died in the Crimea in November 1854. Records (WO12.324) list him as having’died’, a note accompanying the report stating,’This man’s accounts with be forwarded by the Paymaster, Scutari’. The Muster roll for 1854-57 notes that Porter was sent to Scutari on 31 October 1854, the Medal roll adding that he died on 7 November 1854. In many ways, the treatment of the dead in the Crimean War was little better than in the Napoleonic War. Some 16,000 men still died of disease compared to less than 3,000 on the battlefield. A mass grave was provided for the nearly 6,000 soldiers who died from a Cholera epidemic – although this was thought to be a way of isolating the Cholera outbreak rather than providing a common resting ground for the victims. One of the issues that made it difficult to track the dead was the fact that no death certificates were issued on behalf of the deceased. Indeed, record keeping in the entire campaign was lamentable and made it difficult for regiments to know themselves which of their soldiers were living, wounded or who had died. A post-war Royal Commission would instigate a whole series of reforms – although most of them revolved around improving medical care for the wounded rather than disposal of the deceased. We list militaria and coins weekly. JB Military Antiques – We provide quality mounted medals, badges and historical research. We can mount your miniature or full size medals, ribbon bars or supply replacement ribbons or badges. We can also conduct military research on your behalf and value cherished objects with a current market or insured value. We run two specialist military auctions per year. Items are accurately described & photographed. We appreciate fair feedback from you once you receive the item. We aim to give you, the customer our best customer service. The item “DIED DISEASE PRE WW1 BRITISH CRIMEAN WAR MEDAL SEBASTOPOL PORTER 5TH DRAGOONS” is in sale since Friday, November 27, 2020. This item is in the category “Collectables\Militaria\1914 – 1918 (WWI)”. The seller is “jb_military_antiques_14″ and is located in 2/135 Russell St, Morley, Perth, WA. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Modified Item: No
- Campaign: Indian Mutiny
- Theme: Militaria
- Original/Reproduction: Original
- Country: Britain
- Product Type: Medals
- Era: 1800s
