The Important Group of Medals, Awards, and Royal Presentation Boxes bestowed upon Rear Admiral the Hon. H. Carr Glyn, Naval Officer in Charge During the Special Operations on the Lower Danube, 1854

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The Important Group of Medals, Awards, and Royal Presentation Boxes bestowed upon Rear Admiral the Hon. H. Carr Glyn, Naval Officer in Charge During the Special Operations on the Lower Danube, 1854

(a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Military Division, Companion (C.B.), breast Badge, by Garrard, London, gold (Hallmarks for London 1875), and enamel, with gold riband buckle

(b) Crimea, two clasps, Alma, Sebastopol (H. C. Glyn. Lieut H.M.S. Brittania), contemporarily engraved

(c) TURKEY, Order of Medjidie, Third class neck Badge, 79 mm. x 65 mm., silver, gold and enamel

(d) TURKEY, Turkish General Service Medal, Gold, with gold suspension bar

(e) TURKEY, Turkish Crimea, British issue

(f) PORTUGAL, Order of St. Benedict of Aviz, Star, 78 mm. x 70 mm., silver, gold and enamel, minor enamel damage to "Sacred Heart" appliqué

(g) A group of five related miniature awards; Order of the Bath gold and enamel, with gold riband buckle; Order of the Star of India, gold and enamel, onyx cameo centre, Crimea, two clasps, Alma, Sebastopol; Turkish General Service Medal, gold, Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue

(h) A second group of three related miniature awards; Order of the Bath, gold and enamel, with gold riband buckle; Order of the Star of India, silver-gilt and enamel, onyx cameo centre, Turkey, Order of Medjidie, gold, silver and enamel

(i) A Royal Presentation "Star of India" diamond set 18ct. Gold Box, the rectangular body by A. J. Strachan (indistinct Hallmarks for London possibly 1822) 82 mm. x 57 mm., the sides with later blue enamel panels, the decorated with a crowned garter set with over 50 diamonds, enclosing an oval painted miniature of Albert Edward Prince of Wales half length in uniform, slight flaking, flanked by the diamond-set initials A - E, four large cushion cut diamonds in the corners, the whole enclosed within a gold and enamel border of red and white roses, lotus flowers, and palm-braches, representing the Collar of the Order of the Star of India, minor chips to the blue enamel panels, with gilt-leather label "Presented to Captain the Hon. H. G. Glyn by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on his return from India 1876" and accompanied by a small oval silver medallion, A-E flanking the Prince of Wales Plumes within a garter, reverse, "HRH Albert Edward Prince of Wales India 1875-6"

(j) A Russian Imperial Presentation Gold Box, the rectangular cartouche shaped body, of bombé from, chased with scrolling foliage, bearing Neuchâtel mark and maker's mark CMWS, the rim stamped 1143 and with St. Petersburg '56' import mark, the cover mounted with a pierced gold table set with small diamonds, a central oval raised frame of eighteen cushion cut diamonds enclosing a diamond set crowned AA II monogram on a blue enamel ground, with gilt leather label "Presented to Captain the Hon: H. C. Glyn by the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia 1877"

Alexis Alexandrovitch, Grand Prince of Russia and Grand Admiral (1850-1908), was the second son of Emperor Alexander II

(k) Royal Navy Bosun's silver whistle (Hallmarks for Birmingham 1827) by Joseph Willmore

(l) Bronze medal for the Paris Exhibition of 1878, by Udiné, 86 mm., obverse, allegorical figures, reverse, plan of the Exhibition, with gilt leather label "Médaille Commemorative offerte pour services rendus Rear Admiral the Hon: H. Carr Glyn. President du Jury International des Récompenses Classe 67. Exposition Universelle Internationale Paris - 1878"


The entire group housed in a custom-made gilt-wood glazed display case, in protective wooden box by Dobson, Picadilly (15)
Provenance
By descent from the recipient

Lot Essay

INDENTVice-Admrial Henry Carr Glyn, C.B., C.S.I. (1829-84), fourth son of George Carr, First Lord Wolverton, entered the Royal Navy as a Volunteer First Class in H.M.S. America 1844; served on the Pacific, East India and China stations; Sub Lieutenant 1850; under Commander Edmund Lyons, engaged in suppression of Piracy on the China Coast. "It happened that on one occasion during his service in these waters he came prominently under the notice of the authorities for his gallant conduct in boarding a pirate junk. Commander Lyons's brig, during an engagement happened to sheer off from the pirate junk which had been boarded, and young Henry Glyn with his commander and about a dozen men were left on board the junk to fight the crew and take the ship, in which enterprize they were, after some hard fighting, successful"; Lieutenant 1852; at the outbreak of the Crimea War 1854, appointed First Lieutenant H.M.S. Britannia, flag-ship of Naval Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral J. D. Dundas; chosen to command the small Naval Force "for Gun Boat Service on the Danube" with orders to assist the Turkish Army, together with a party of 30 English Sappers and 15 French Pontoneers, in securing a bridgehead over the river Danube at Giurgevo

The Danube Party

Travelling by ship to Varna, the Naval Party then journeyed on horseback to Roustchouk, a distance of some 130 miles. They arrived on 10 July to find a Russian army 70,000 strong, under Prince Gortschakoff threatening the much smaller Turkish force of a few thousand men which had crossed the Danube by boat and was now camped on the Northern bank at Giurgevo, separated from the Main Turkish army and clearly unable to withstand the impending Russian attack. Immediately on arrival Lieutenant Glyn, assisted by Midshipman Prince Leiningen, took command of the few Turkish gunboats on the river and thrust them down a narrow loop stream which splits away from the main river above Giurgevo. By this action he placed the boats between the two armies and, though under heavy fire from the north bank, maintained his position and relieved the pressure on the small isolated Turkish advance party. Prince Gortschakoff, uncertain as to the strength of the newly arrived British force, decided against an immediate attack. While he hesitated, the Naval party assisted the Sappers in construction a pontoon bridge, 787 yards long, using 55 commandeered boats. The bridge was completed on 10 August, and the main Turkish army under Omer Pasha could now counter the Russian threat. The Czar's intended invasion of Bulgaria had been thwarted. (Glyn received the Turkish Order of Medjidie 5th class and was promoted to Commander, 1855; Prince Leiningen was promoted to Lieutenant; both men received the Turkish General Service Medal in Gold.)

Commanded H.M.S. Hecate off the West Coast of Africa, and was invalided home; commanded H.M.S. Coquet in the Mediterranean, and H.M.S. Miranda during the New Zealand war 1860; Captain 1861; commanded H.M.S. Doris on the North African Station and H.M.S. Warrior, ionclad, 1870, and H.M.S. Duke of Wellington 1872, in the Channel Squadron; Naval aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria 1873-77; entrusted with the command of H.M.S. Serapis when she conveyed the Prince of Wales to India 1875 (C.B.); Rear Admiral 1877 (Order of the Medjidie 3rd class, and C.S.I. 1878); Vice Admiral 1882 and died two years later

For related family awards see lots 313, 314, 315 and 348

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