Beschreibung:

A fine C.B. and Peninsula Gold Medal pair to Major-General C. E. Conyers, 82nd Regiment, for Orthes, at which battle he commanded his regiment until severely wounded The Most Honourable Order of The Bath (Military) C.B., breast badge in 22 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1815, complete with swivel-ring suspension and gold ribbon buckle; Field Officer’s Small Army Gold Medal, for Orthes (Lieut. Coll. Chas. E. Conyers, 82nd Foot.) fitted with gold ribbon buckle, some minor enamel chips to the central wreaths on the first, suspension neatly repaired on the second but no longer swivels, otherwise good very fine (2) Footnote Charles Edward Conyers served three years and a half in the West Indies, and was engaged on several occasions, particularly in the district of Mirebalais, where, for a period of twelve months, the 82nd were the only European troops. The most serious of these attacks was made by the black chief Toussaint L’Ouverture, on the whole line of the frontier, when 40 men of the 82nd, under Lieutenants Manners and Conyers, accompanied by two thousand five hundred Colonial troops, marched at night to assist Fort Serolle, then invested by four thousand of the enemy, who were surprised, dislodged and dispersed, with considerable loss. In 1797 Conyers commanded Fort Desureaux, with a garrison of forty Europeans and three hundred Colonial troops. He had to repel several assaults, and when Pestel was attacked, he led a party against the rear of the enemy, which caused the failure of their enterprise, and for his conduct on this occasion, he received a letter of thanks from Brigadier-General Churchill. In March, 1798, he was appointed Fort Major of Irois, on the Island of St. Domingo, prior to the third investment of that Fort. During the siege, which lasted for three months, Lieutenant Conyers and two non-commissioned officers of the 82nd were wounded, and the garrison lost more men killed and wounded than its original number of three hundred. Towards the end of 1798, treaties were made with the hostile chiefs for the evacuation of the island, and the remains of the 82nd were collected at Jaremie, under command of Lieutenant Conyers, the only remaining Officer of the original number, who less than three years before, landed at St. Domingo. Conyers served in an expedition to the coast of France in 1800, and subsequently in the Mediterranean until 1802. From 1805 to 1809 he served throughout the Mediterranean, and in Egypt on the Staff, and received a severe contusion there, having been at the attack on Alexandria, at the storming of Rosetta, and at the subsequent siege of that place. He served in the Peninsula and France in 1813 and 1814, and was in command of the 82nd during the operations on theGave d’Oleron, at Hastingues and Oyer le Gave, and was severely wounded at the head of his regiment at the battle of Orthes, 27th February, 1814. Lieut-Colonel Conyers and Major Vincent, who succeeded to the command towards the end of the action when Conyers received his wound, were rewarded with a Gold Medal. This was the last occasion that the 82nd were engaged in France for in May, 1814, they embarked for North America, and there joined the right division of the army at Fort Erie, on the Niagara Frontier. He served four and a half years at the Cape, and five years in the Ionian Islands, as Commandant and Resident of one of the Islands. Conyers received promotion to Colonel in 1837, and was appointed a Companion of the Bath in July, 1838. He became Major-General in November, 1846, and was given the Colonelcy of the 96th Regiment in February, 1852. He died at Brighton on the 10th August, 1855, after more than 60 years service. The lot is sold with a modern watercolour portrait of the recipient by the Military artist Pierre Turner.