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Only 10 General Officers received the Large Army Gold Medal with two clasps, this combination being unique. General Anson’s group
of medals was first sold by Christie’s in April 1902.
George Anson was born in 1769, second son of George Anson and Mary Vernon, and a nephew of Admiral Lord Anson. He entered
the Army as a Cornet in the 16th Light Dragoons on 3 May 1786; he obtained a Lieutenancy in the same corps in 1791, and exchanged
into the 20th Light Dragoons, with which regiment he served for five years in Jamaica. In 1792 he obtained a troop in the 20th, and his
Majority in December 1794. He exchanged back into the 16th Light Dragoons in September 1797, became Lieutenant-Colonel in the
20th Light Dragoons the same year, and exchanged into the 15th Light Dragoons in September 1798, with whom he served in Holland.
In January 1805, he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the King, and received the rank of Colonel in the Army. In December of the same
year he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 16th Light Dragoons.
In 1809, Anson proceeded to Portugal and commanded the 16 Light Dragoons in the advance upon and battle of Oporto on 10th-12th
May. On 24 May 1809, he was appointed Brigadier General and given command of a brigade of light cavalry consisting of the 23rd
Light Dragoons and the 1st Light Dragoons of the King’s German Legion. Anson commanded the brigade at the Battle of Talavera on
27th and 28th July, and at the Battles of Busaco in 1810, Salamanca in 1812, and Vittoria in 1813, besides various other less important
affairs. He received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, on separate occasions, for his services at Talavera, Salamanca, and
Vittoria, and received the Gold Medal and two clasps in commemoration of those battles. In May 1813, he was granted a Royal
Licence to accept and wear the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword, ‘for the distinguished
courage and intrepidity displayed by him in several actions with the enemy in the Peninsula.’ He was appointed a Knight Commander
of the Bath on 2 January 1815, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order on 29 July 1833. Anson became Lieutenant-General in August
1819, Colonel of the 4th Dragoon Guards in February 1827, and a full General in January 1837. Besides taking a seat in the House of
Commons as Member for the city of Lichfield, Anson had a long association with the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, and was holding the
highest office as Governor when he died on the 4th November, 1849.
Anson married in 1800, Frances, daughter of John William Hamilton and the sister of Sir Frederick Hamilton. They had six sons and
daughters, of whom Talavera Vernon Anson became an Admiral in the Royal Navy, and Thomas Anson was a first class cricketer. Lady
Anson died in 1834, fifteen years before the death of Anson himself. In Who Do You Think You Are? transmitted by the BBC in October
2007, it was discovered that Sir Matthew Pinsent, the multiple gold medal Olympic rower, is a direct descendant of Sir George Anson.
www.dnw.co.uk
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