59 59. A RELIC OF ADMIRAL SIR [WILLIAM] SIDNEY SMITH, GCB (1764-1840)
consisting of a circular silver locket, partially glazed and the enclosed back engraved Admiral Sir Wm. Sidney Smith’s hair cut off by Sophia, wife of Comr. W.H. Budd, at Wootton Cottage, Isle of Wight, 1806 in neat running script -- 35mm. (diam.), with integral and secondary loops for suspension; together with a white metal medal commemorating Smith’s presidency of the so-called Knights of the White Slaves -- 54mm. (Brown’s British Historical Medals, 1760-1960, vol. 1, no. 920); and an unrelated silver medallion marking Sir Robert Peel’s Installation as Lord Rector of Glasgow University in January 1837, 46mm. (Brown, BHM, 1, no. 1749)
(3)
Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, invariably known as Sir Sidney Smith, entered the Navy in 1777 and, after action during the American War of Independence including ‘The Moonlight Battle’ off Cape St. Vincent on 16th January 1780, thereafter served in various foreign navies until France’s declaration of War against England in 1793. He brought the despatches home after the evacuation of Toulon in 1793 but was captured off Le Havre in 1796 and imprisoned in Paris for two years before making a daring escape. Given command of the captured French 80-gunTigre, he is chiefly remembered for his heroic defence of Acre against Napoleon’s army in 1799 after which he served mainly in the Mediterranean or out of Lisbon. Possessing a plethora of wildly contrasting personal characteristics, his whole career was filled with adventure and his contemporaries regarded him as something of a latter-day Elizabethan buccaneer. His final appointment as Admiral came in 1821 and he died in Paris, a city he greatly loved and where he spoke fluent French, in 1840. Typical of his eccentric lifestyle, he had earlier assumed the title of President of the entirely fictitious Knights of the White Slaves, an organisation founded in Paris in 1814, whose objective was the liberation of Christian slaves from the Barbary pirates.
Commander W.H. Budd is not recorded as a naval officer and his residence on the sea at Wootton, west of Ryde, Isle of Wight, may suggest that he was employed in either the Coast Guard or Revenue Services.
£800-1200 60.
CAPTAIN COOK
1. The Return of Captain Cook. On Saturday last, an express arrived at the Admiralty, with the agreeable news of the arrival in the Downs of the Endeavour, Capt. Cooke, from the East Indies….-- 3in. of column space, page 3, column 1, in a complete issue of THE LONDON CHRONICLE, dated July 13th, 1771; 2. Excellent and lengthy account by a member onboard the Endeavour, during July 1768, starting with the viewing of the transit of Venus, and then on to the land discoveries -- 11in. of column space, page 6, columns 1-2, in a complete issue of THE LONDON CHRONICLE, dated 27th July, 1771
(2) £400-500
62. SET OF THREE PAPERS RELATING TO THE EXPLORER LA COMTE DE LA PEROUSE
1. Account by a member of Comte De La Perouse expedition relating to the various places covered up to the second year (1st of October,1788), and plans to return to France a year hence, after proposing to finish the discoveries which remain to be made in the Austral hemisphere…-- 7½in. column space, front page, columns 1-2; Extract of Comte De La Perouse’s Dispatches. A detailed and lengthy article giving an excellent description of events regarding the last voyage, up until the 15th of October, 1788 -- 13” of columns space, page 2, columns 1-2, in a complete issue of THE LONDON CHRONICLE, dated November 4th-6th, 1788; 2. Report from the ship Sydney Cove, following a discovery which may shed some light on the fate of the unfortunate French Admiral -- 9in. of column space, page 3, column 5, in a complete issue of THE LONDON PACKET AND CHRONICLE, dated August 15th, 1827; 3. An excellent and detailed and lengthy article pertaining to further discoveries regarding De La Perouse’s ship, by the commander of an expedition sent specifically to determine the navigator’s fate -- 7in. of column space, page 4, column 5, in a complete issue of THE LONDON PACKET AND CHRONICLE, dated January 19th, 1829
(3) £300-400
26 61. THE FIRST FLEET
1. An excellent and lengthy account from the Surgeon on the Lady Juliana Transport bound for Botany Bay, dated from the Cape of Good Hope, March 22nd, 1790 -- 10in. of column space, page 2, column 2, in a complete issue of THE LONDON CHRONICLE, dated August 21st, 1790; 2. Extract of a letter from Portsmouth detailing the sailing of H.M.S. Guardian to Botany Bay, describing ship, crew, convicts, and conditions aboard -- 3in. of column space, back page, column 1, in a complete issue of THE LONDON CHRONICLE, dated September 8th, 1789
(2) £350-450
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