*The 12-Clasp Military General Service Medal awarded to Sergeant William Weston, 40th (South Lancashire) Regiment, wounded in action, comprising:Military General Service, 1793-1814, 12 clasps, Egypt, Roleia, Vimiera, Talavera, Busaco, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes, Toulouse (William Weston, 40th Foot.), dark old tone, minor obverse edge bruise at 7 o’clock and small mark to neck of portrait but otherwise extremely fine, and a rare 12-clasp award to this regiment. Sergeant William Weston was born in 1779 in Calne, Wiltshire (WO 97/1145), and enlisted for service with the 40th Foot on 24 July 1799, having previously worked as a Basketmaker. He is confirmed as having served as a Private with the 2nd Battalion in Captain Danser’s Company (one of the flank companies) in Egypt during the muster period 25 September to 25 October 1801, and served throughout the Peninsular War in Spain and France. He continued to serve with the 2nd Battalion until 24 September 1815, after which he transferred to the 3rd Garrison Battalion on 25 September 1815, remaining with this Battalion until 20 September 1816. He is reported as having suffered health issues due to ‘chronic rheumatism, and wounded’ (WO 120), and later reached the rank of Corporal, and then Sergeant. Weston died as an ‘in pensioner’ at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in early 1857, being buried on the 4th of February. Weston’s name is entered out of sequence at the end of the 40th Regimental Roll, his entitlement to the Egypt clasp being noted (and indicated by Mullen). Beyond this, the entry makes no specific reference to the other clasps, an omission which exemplifies a number of inconsistencies found in the original documents. It is very likely that the medal was a late claim (a suggestion supported by the thickness and form of the rim, the style of which resembles that of the South Africa 1853 medal more closely than the majority of M.G.S. awards), and given his confirmed service period, his entitlement to the above clasps is very likely. This one of just four 12-clasp awards to the 40th Foot. Ex Murray Collection, Sotheby’s, 10-14 May 1926, lot 319. Ex Glendining, May 1936, January 1943. Ex Morton & Eden, December 2005.

Estimate: GBP 4000 - 6000