Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry

‘Colonel Cameron, informed by a staff officer of the critical state of affairs, formed the 9th regiment in line under a violent fire, and, without returning a single shot, ran in upon and drove the grenadiers from the rocks with irresistible bravery, plying them with a destructive musketry as long as they could be reached, and yet with excellent discipline refraining from pursuit, lest the crest of the position should be again lost, for the mountain was so rugged that it was impossible to judge clearly of the general state of the action’ (Napier, Peninsular War, book xi. chap. 7, Battle of Busaco, 27 September 1809) ‘We sprang over the wall and moved rapidly against a strong body of the enemy posted outside of the convent, and on seeing these a very galling fire opened upon us from the adjacent buildings which I ordered to be forced. Woodham entering the largest in which he was killed after gaining the first floor at the point of the bayonet. The row was now at its height, some charging those posted at the convent, others clearing the houses of which the windows and other outlets the enemy availed themselves to escape and all uniting in full chase to the village of San Martin.’ (The recipient describes the assault and capture of the fortified convent of San Bartolomeo in front of San Sebastian - from ‘The Letters of Lt. Colonel Sir John Cameron, 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment of Foot, 1808-14’) The rare Regimental Commander’s Peninsula War group of four awarded to Lieutenant-General Sir John Cameron, K.C.B., who first saw action with the 43rd Light Infantry in the West Indies in 1794 at the captures of Martinique, St Lucia and Guadaloupe, displaying his gallantry and winning his captaincy at the storming of the Fortress of Fleur d’Epée; subsequently, as a junior captain placed in command of his sickness reduced regiment, he suffered severe wounds and was captured in the defence of Berville Camp, 4 October 1794, spending 2 years in a prison hulk off Pointe-á-Pitre, Guadaloupe. Appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the 9th Foot in September 1807, Cameron commanded the 2nd Battalion at Vimeiro the following year, and then, assuming command of the 1st Battalion - a position he retained throughout the Peninsula War - served under Sir John Moore in 1809 at Corunna where his intrepid bravery gained the approbation of his superior in command; he returned to Portugal in March 1810 at head of his Battalion, being Mentioned in Despatches for Busaco where he ‘exerted himself with the greatest gallantry in front during the charge, when his horse was killed under him’; was wounded and fell from the breach at the final assault on San Sebastian; and in the fiercely contested Battle of Nive, finding his regiment surrounded by superior numbers, made a successful charge to the rear taking between three and four hundred prisoners - the following day, while reconnoitring, he became engaged en tirrailleurs and had his horse shot from under him once more. Appointed one of the first K.C.B.s on his return from the Peninsula Wars, in which campaign the 9th’s losses exceeded those of any other regiment, and from which his important journals and letters survived to be later published under the title, ‘The Letters of Lt. Colonel Sir John Cameron, 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment of Foot, 1808-14’, he was later appointed Colonel of the Regiment he had commanded for upwards of thirteen years The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, K.C.B. (Military) Knight Commander’s, a contemporary Paris-made breast star, circa 1815, 75mm, silver with appliqué centre in gold and enamels, the reverse centre inscribed ‘Mortier Bijoutier Palais Royal No. 34 A Paris’, fitted with silver pin for wearing; Army Gold Cross 1806-14, for Vimeiro, Corunna, Salamanca, and St. Sebastian, 3 clasps, Buzaco, Vittoria, Nive, the edge of the lower three arms of the cross inscribed ‘Lt. Colonel John Cameron 1st. Bn. 9th. Foot’, with usual oak and laurel suspension ring and swivel-ring gold bar suspension; Field Officer’s Small Gold Medal, the reverse centre inscribed ‘Vimiera, & Corunna. 1808-9.’, 1 clasp, Salamanca (Lieut. Coll. J. Cameron, 9th Foot.); Portugal, Kingdom, Military Order of the Tower and Sword, Knight’s breast badge, gold, 45mm, some light enamel chips to the first, very fine, otherwise nearly extremely fine (4) £70,000-£90,000 --- John Cameron was born on 3 January 1773, the second son of John Cameron of Culchenna, Inverness, Scotland and nephew of Cameron of Caltort, Inverness-shire, whose ancestor was a younger son of Lochiel, chief of the clan. He was educated at Eton College and entered the 43rd Foot as an Ensign on 25 September 1787, gaining promotion to Lieutenant in September 1790. In this latter year, Cameron served in the West Indies under Sir Charles Grey and was present at the reduction of Martinique (including the siege of Fort Bourbon and other minor engagements) and at the captures of St. Lucia and Guadaloupe, particularly displaying his gallantry and winning his captaincy in the storming of the fortress of Fleur d’Epée and in the sortie from and the defence of that place. In 1794, Sir Charles Grey returned to England in the mistaken belief that his West Indian conquests were secure, leaving the 43rd Regiment, which had been so reduced by sickness that Cameron, though only a junior captain commanded it, forming part of Brig.-Gen. Graham’s garrison at Berville Camp in Guadaloupe. Cameron led his Regiment in the action of 30 September 1794 and in the different attacks made by the enemy, until 4 October when he was severely wounded and taken prisoner, remaining on a prison hulk at Pointe-à-Pitre for two years. Exchanged for release in 1797, he was immediately ordered to rejoin his regiment in the West Indies, remaining on foreign service again for over three years. He was appointed a Majority in the 43rd Foot on 28 October 1800 and brought his regiment home after it had suffered terrible losses from the West Indian climate. In 1803, whilst stationed in the Channel Islands, he married Miss Amelia Brock, eldest daughter of Henry Brock, of Belmont, Guernsey, and niece of Admiral James Saumarez, notable for his victory at the Battle of the Gut of Gibraltar, and first cousin of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel by transferring to the 7th West India Regiment on 28 May 1807; from which he was removed to the 9th (East Norfolk) Foot from 5 September 1807. On his return to England, he was then ordered with the 9th Foot to the seat of war in Portugal, where in August 1808 he commanded the 2nd Battalion at the Battle of Vimiera before assuming command of the 1st Battalion following the death in action of its commander, Colonel Stewart, at the earlier Battle of Roliça. He would remain its commander throughout the Peninsula War, the Walcheren Expedition and Canada 1814 and 1815. Cameron led the 1st into Spain with Moore during the advance to Salamanca, and afterwards, at the Battle of Corunna where he displayed intrepid bravery, gaining the approbation of his superior in command. In July 1809, Cameron embarked on the expedition to the Scheldt under the Earl of Chatham, in command of the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment, and returned the following September to England from where he proceeded, in March 1910, to increase the force in Portugal under the command of the Duke of Wellington, at the head of the 1st Battalion of 9th Regiment (the 2nd Battalion, aside from their participation at Barossa, remained confined to Gibraltar during this period). Likely having received news of the death of his brother, Captain Ewen Cameron, 43rd Regt., at the Battle of t...