Single Campaign Medals x405
Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. George Dodwell, 23rd Reg. Light Dragoons) fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension, some light edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise good very fine
£3,600-£4,000
George Dodwell, of Kevinsfort, County Sligo, was appointed Cornet in the 23rd Light Dragoons on 6 July 1804, and promoted to Lieutenant on 25 April 1805. He served in the Peninsula from June to December 1809, and was present at the battle of Talavera where the 23rd Light Dragoons made their famous and costly charge against three lines of cavalry. Napier records ‘Sir Arthur ordered Anson's brigade of cavalry, composed of the 23rd Light Dragoons and the First German Hussars, to charge the head of these columns [Villarte's Division, some grenadiers and two regiments of light cavalry]. They went off at a canter, increasing their speed as they advanced and riding headlong against the enemy; but in a few moments, a hollow cleft which was not perceptible at a distance intervened, and at the same moment the French, throwing themselves into squares, opened their fire. Colonel Arentschild, commanding the hussars, an officer whom forty years’ experience had made a master in his art, promptly reined up at the brink, exclaiming in his broken phrase, “I vill not kill my young mans!” The 23rd found the chasm more practicable, the English blood is hot, and the regiment plunged down without a check, men and horses rolling over each other in dreadful confusion; yet the survivors, untamed, mounted the opposite bank by twos and threes’ ... and ‘fell with inexpressible violence upon a brigade of French chasseurs in the rear. The combat was fierce, yet short, for Victor seeing the advance of the English, had detached his Polish lancers and Westphalia light horse to support Villatte, and these freshmen coming up when the 23rd, already overmatched, could scarcely hold up against the chasseurs, entirely broke them.’
Major Ponsonby of the 23rd wrote: ‘We had a pleasing amusement of charging five solid squares with a ditch in their front. After losing 180 men and 222 horses, we found it was not agreeable and that Frenchmen will not always run away when they see British cavalry...’ The fighting now petered out. It had been a most bloody battle. The grass on the battlefield caught fire roasting the dead bodies of men and horses and scorching the wounded. ‘I never saw a field of battle which struck me with such horror as Talavera’, wrote George Napier.
In consequence of losing about half its strength in this action, the 23rd Light Dragoons were withdrawn to England to recruit and never returned to the Peninsula as a regiment during the War of 1808-14. Lieutenant Dodwell’s brother, James, was also serving with the regiment at Talavera and was slightly wounded/injured in the action.
On 16 June, the 23rd were rushed up from Brussels to Quatre Bras and the following day were employed with Dornberg's 3rd Cavalry Brigade in covering the retreat of Allied troops. At Waterloo, the 23rd Light Dragoons were posted in the rear of Halkett's 5th Infantry Brigade in the Allied right centre, and during that long and dangerous day made several important charges with a high degree of ‘steadiness and determined bravery’. Between five and six o'clock, Cox's Troop was detached from the main body of the regiment and successfully repulsed and pursued a body of French cavalry causing annoyance to a brigade of guns, until repulsed by the fire of a French infantry square. In the evening as the triumphant Allied advance began, Lord Uxbridge rode up to Major Lautour, commanding the 23rd, and requested a troop horse, his mount being wounded or exhausted. Latour immediately complied ‘by dismounting Sergeant-Major Stride, giving his Lordship the Sergeant-Major's mare.’ The grateful cavalry commander instantly galloped some yards to the front to join Wellington and was busily engaged in urging the troops not to let the enemy stand when the cannon ball struck him in the knee, giving rise to their famous exchange: ‘By God, sir, I've lost my leg!’, ‘By God, sir, so you have!’
Dodwell was placed on half-pay on 30 May 1816, and appears to have returned to his native Ireland where he died on 23 June 1843.
www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234
