Single Campaign Medals


In 1808 Douglas was appointed Assistant Quarter Master General in Spain, and was sent out with despatches to Sir John Moore. He joined the retreating army in December at Benevente, and was present at the battle of Corunna, 18th January, 1809. In the following July he accompanied the Walcheren expedition in the same capacity and took an active part in the artillery attack on Flushing. The same year he succeeded to the Baronetcy on the death of his elder half brother, Vice Admiral Sir William Henry Douglas. In 1811 Douglas was selected by Lord Liverpool to proceed to the north of Spain to inspect and report on the state of the Spanish armies in Galicia and Asturias, and on the military resources of that part of the country then not wholly occupied by the French, and to report in what way these resources, regular and irregular, including the guerilla system, which had become very formidable, should be encouraged and extended. After conferring with Lord Wellington he proceeded on his mission, and was present at the operations on the Orbigo and Esta, in the combined naval and military operations of the Spaniards and a British naval squadron under Sir Home Popham the younger, on the north coast of Spain in the early part of 1812, in the attack on and reduction of Lequertio, siege of Astorga, operations on the Douro, siege of Zamorra and attack on the ports of the Douro. He joined the army on the advance to Burgos at the end of August, 1812, and appears to have predicted the failure of the siege but did not await the result, the home government having recalled him from the mission.


A detailed account of Howard’s services during 1811-12, gathering intelligence through a network of spies, and his close work with the Spanish army and the guerilla forces in Gallicia, will be found in The Life of General Sir Howard Douglas, published in 1863. The following is a short extract:


‘The guerilla successes exasperated the French, who resorted to the severest reprisals, and the peasants returned from their forays to find their homes devastated and their wives and daughters dishonoured and sometimes butchered. These atrocities were so common that they are mentioned as things of course by the guerilla chiefs in their despatches to Sir Howard. But he relates one enormity that drove them to madness, and excites a shudder even at this distance of time. The French desired to occupy a monastery commanding a strong pass, but admission was denied by the monks, who made a stout resistance. They were overcome, and the French punished their temerity by roasting several of them, and putting the rest to the sword. A party of the French afterwards fell into the hands of the guerillas, who obtained possession of an immense oven constructed for the use of a regiment, and baked them alive. Such are the horrors of invasion!’


From 1823 to 1832 Douglas was Governor of New Brunswick, where he founded the university of Fredricton, and displayed great firmness and tact in checking the American encroachment on the Maine frontier in 1828. He was made G.C.M.G. in 1835 on his appointment as Lord High Commissioner of the lonian Islands, which he held until 1840, during which time he introduced a new code of laws known as the Douglas Code. He became a Lieutenant General in 1837 and in 1841 was made Colonel of the 99th Foot. He was transferred to the Colonelcy of the 15th Foot in 1851, in which year he became a General. He sat for five years as M.P. for Liverpool as a supporter of Sir Robert Peel. Douglas had been made a C.B. in 1815, K.C.B. in 1840, and G.C.B., Civil Division, in 1841. Shortly before his death Palmerston offered Douglas the Military G.C.B., but he declined, saying he was “too old for such vanities.” He also had the Grand Cordon of Charles III of Spain, and the Peninsula medal for Corunna. During his lifetime he published numerous books and papers on Military and Naval matters. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Geographical Society, and received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from Oxford University. Sir Howard Douglas died at Tunbridge Wells on 9th November, 1861 at the age of 85 years.


Sold with a modern reprint of the Life of General Sir Howard Douglas Bart GCB GCMG FRS DCL.


232


Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, Badajoz (J. Barber, Serjeant, 40th Foot) good very fine


£1,600-£2,000


Provenance: Sold at Glendining in 1912, and by Baldwin in 1942 and 1955; Darwent Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, April 2004. Only five single clasp medals for Badajoz to the regiment.


John Barber was born in the Parish of Walcot, near Bath, circa 1776, and enlisted into the 40th Foot at Fareham, Hampshire, on 26 August 1799, aged 23 years. He was discharged at Glasgow on 7 November 1818, in consequence of a reduction in the establishment of the regiment, his discharge papers recording that his conduct has been ‘Very good and steady. He served in Holland, South America, Peninsula, North America and at Waterloo, and was wounded in the right arm at the assault and capture of Badajoz.’ He was present at Waterloo in Captain Bowen’s Company. John Barber, who never appears to have served as a Sergeant, was admitted to pension on 20 January 1819, and was then residing at Bath. Sold with copy discharge papers and muster details.


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