• Jewels at South Kensington auction at Christies

    Sale 5639

    Jewels at South Kensington

    19 January 2010, London, South Kensington

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  • Lot 16

    A group of medals, miniatures, books and objects pertaining to William Percivall M.R.C.S. Veterinary Surgeon

    Price Realised  

    A group of medals, miniatures, books and objects pertaining to William Percivall M.R.C.S. Veterinary Surgeon
    Medals comprise: a group of four including Military General Service Medal 1797-1814, named to W. Percivall, Vet'y Surg'n R. Art'y, with two clasps, Orthes and Toulouse, GVF, Crimea Medal 1854-56 engraved capitals, Dresser. Wm. Percivall OTT, Med Staff, no clasp, VF contact marks Turkish Crimea, Sardinian die with Crimea type suspension, unnamed as issued, VF, edge knocks, and Crimea miniature no clasp; an Indian Mutiny Medal named to 2nd. Capt'n I. Percivall, Ist. T'p 2nd, Bde, Rl, He, Ay. with clasp Lucknow, VF; an India General Service Medal 1854-95, named to 2nd. Lieut, John Percival, 5th Batt Art'y, VF, edge knocks; two silver New Veterinary College, Edinburgh, prize medals one engraved - Second prize Awarded to Mr Charles Percivall, the reversed dated 1861-62, hallmarked Edinburgh, 1860; the other a first prize medal also dated 1860-61, hallmarked, Edinburgh, 1861; a 9ct. gold and two silver fobs each engraved to C.W. Percivall and dated 1897-98; a pair of Victorian gold cufflinks, each oval panel engraved with a lion crest, to chain-link connections; an oval gold mounted portrait miniature brooch of William Percivall in officer's uniform, circle of Rochard, circa 1830; a similar framed miniature of Percivall, English School, circa 1830; a framed miniature of William Percivall as a young boy seated in woodland scene with his dog; a framed drawing of William Percivall in the uniform of the Ist. Life Guards, circa 1830; a portrait miniature of a young lady, circa 1830; a framed, late Victorian Sabretache cover for the Royal Artillery; and five books including two volumes of A History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1796-1919, Major General Sir Frederick Smith, 1927, and Twelve Lectures on the Form and Action of the Horse, William Percivall M.R.C.S. V.S.,1850; and two related photographs


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    Post Lot Text

    William Percivall (1792-1854) the only child of John Percivall, himself a Veterinary Surgeon was born in 1792. In 1809 William entered the Veterinary College and obtained his diploma in 1811, at the early age of 19. He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery Drivers and arrived in the Peninsula in 1813, he was present at the battles of Orthes and Toulouse in 1814. In 1815 he went to Belgium for the Waterloo campaign and, although not present at the battle, he treated horses in the vicinity. On the reduction of the Army in 1816 he was placed on half-pay. He later studied human medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital and worked as a dresser. In 1819 he qualified at the Royal College of Surgeons however he must have had a change of heart as he then worked at his father's veterinary practice in Woolwich. His first work in which he was assisted by his father was, "A Series of Elementary Lectures on Veterinary Art", 1823-26. In May 1827 he was offered the appointment of Veterinary Surgeon to the Ist. Life Guards, with which regiment he served until his death. In 1850 his work "Lectures on the Form and Actions of Horses was published". In 1854 he was one of the senior officers on the Cavalry list fot the Ist. Life guards. It appears that he qualified for the Crimea Medal without clasp being attached to the Medical Staff. He died on 12th December 1854, aged 62.