拍品专文
Ex Glendining's, June 1947.
The published Naval General Service Medal rolls confirm Robert Wright as a Lieutenant in the Royal Marines aboard the Bomb-Ship Aetna for the Potomac actions of August 1814, one of just 104 recipients of this clasp on the Admiralty roll.
'While these operations were in progress, Captain James, in the Seahorse, 38, with the Euryalus, 36, Captain Charles Napier, and some Bomb Vessels, ascended the Potomac to Alexandria, to co-operate in the attack on Washington on that side, and after encountering difficulties that would have daunted almost any hearts but those of British seamen, owing to the intricacies of the navigation and the strong Batteries commanding the river, they compelled the surrender of Fort Washington, armed with 27 heavy guns, and of the city of Alexandria, and 21 Prizes. The Squadron on their return found the banks of the Potomac lined with men and heavy Batteries, thrown up to attack the ships; but not withstanding every impediment, the ships silenced the Batteries, some mounting 14 to 18 guns, and on 9 September, 23 days after quitting the mouth of the river, the Seahorse and her consorts arrived at their former anchorage. The loss throughout this arduous service amounted to only seven killed, including one Lieutenant, and 35 wounded, among whom was Captain Napier' (Great Battles of the British Navy, by Lieutenant C.R. Low, R.N., refers).
Brevet Major Robert Wright was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant in May 1812 and quickly found seagoing appointments aboard the Dublin and Warspite, the latter being part of the force assigned to the blockade of Brest. Following a brief spell ashore at Chatham in the Winter of 1813, he was back at sea in the Montague, and shortly afterwards the Freiga, landing at Bermuda in June 1814 to take up appointment as a Drill Officer for the local Field and Rocket Batteries.
But more active service beckoned, when a week or two later he was removed to the Bomb-Ship Aetna for service in North America. Subsequently present at the above described actions in the Potomac in August 1814, and elsewhere, Wright safely returned to Chatham in August 1815 and remained employed ashore for the next nine years. There followed brief stints of seagoing duty in his old ship, the Aetna, off Algiers between May and August 1824, and, on and off over the next six years, the Phaeton, Prince Regent and Gloucester, and in June 1831 he was advanced to First Lieutenant.
In April 1836, having been employed at Portsmouth and Woolwich in the intervening period, Wright was embarked for the North Coast of Spain, and there remained, actively employed in the Carlist War, until early 1840, a period that witnessed his attachment to the 'Consolidated Royal Irish' and appointment to the 'First Class of the Spanish Order of St. Ferdinand' (Haultain's New Navy List refers). Promoted to Captain on his return to the U.K., he went on to enjoy further seagoing appointments off South America and in the Mediterranean in the 1840s and was given the Brevet of Major in November 1854. Wright retired in February 1850 and died at Edinburgh in November 1866.
The published Naval General Service Medal rolls confirm Robert Wright as a Lieutenant in the Royal Marines aboard the Bomb-Ship Aetna for the Potomac actions of August 1814, one of just 104 recipients of this clasp on the Admiralty roll.
'While these operations were in progress, Captain James, in the Seahorse, 38, with the Euryalus, 36, Captain Charles Napier, and some Bomb Vessels, ascended the Potomac to Alexandria, to co-operate in the attack on Washington on that side, and after encountering difficulties that would have daunted almost any hearts but those of British seamen, owing to the intricacies of the navigation and the strong Batteries commanding the river, they compelled the surrender of Fort Washington, armed with 27 heavy guns, and of the city of Alexandria, and 21 Prizes. The Squadron on their return found the banks of the Potomac lined with men and heavy Batteries, thrown up to attack the ships; but not withstanding every impediment, the ships silenced the Batteries, some mounting 14 to 18 guns, and on 9 September, 23 days after quitting the mouth of the river, the Seahorse and her consorts arrived at their former anchorage. The loss throughout this arduous service amounted to only seven killed, including one Lieutenant, and 35 wounded, among whom was Captain Napier' (Great Battles of the British Navy, by Lieutenant C.R. Low, R.N., refers).
Brevet Major Robert Wright was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant in May 1812 and quickly found seagoing appointments aboard the Dublin and Warspite, the latter being part of the force assigned to the blockade of Brest. Following a brief spell ashore at Chatham in the Winter of 1813, he was back at sea in the Montague, and shortly afterwards the Freiga, landing at Bermuda in June 1814 to take up appointment as a Drill Officer for the local Field and Rocket Batteries.
But more active service beckoned, when a week or two later he was removed to the Bomb-Ship Aetna for service in North America. Subsequently present at the above described actions in the Potomac in August 1814, and elsewhere, Wright safely returned to Chatham in August 1815 and remained employed ashore for the next nine years. There followed brief stints of seagoing duty in his old ship, the Aetna, off Algiers between May and August 1824, and, on and off over the next six years, the Phaeton, Prince Regent and Gloucester, and in June 1831 he was advanced to First Lieutenant.
In April 1836, having been employed at Portsmouth and Woolwich in the intervening period, Wright was embarked for the North Coast of Spain, and there remained, actively employed in the Carlist War, until early 1840, a period that witnessed his attachment to the 'Consolidated Royal Irish' and appointment to the 'First Class of the Spanish Order of St. Ferdinand' (Haultain's New Navy List refers). Promoted to Captain on his return to the U.K., he went on to enjoy further seagoing appointments off South America and in the Mediterranean in the 1840s and was given the Brevet of Major in November 1854. Wright retired in February 1850 and died at Edinburgh in November 1866.