The fine K.C.B., Army of India, Baltic and Crimea group of seven awarded to Admiral C. H....

The fine K.C.B., Army of India, Baltic and Crimea group of seven awarded to Admiral C. H. M. Buckle, Royal Navy The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, K.C.B. (Military) Knight Commander’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1873, and breast star by Garrard & Co., silver with gold and enamel centre, fitted with gold retaining pin; Army of India 1799-1826, 1 clasp, Ava (C. H. M. Buckle, Mid.) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming; Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Capt. C. H. M. Buckle, H.M.S. Valorous.) contemporary engraved naming; Baltic 1854-55 (Capt. C. H. M. Buckle, H.M.S. Valorous.) contemporary engraved naming; Ottoman Empire, Order of the Medjidie, 4th Class breast badge, silver, gold and enamel; Turkish Crimea 1855, Sardinian issue, unnamed, mounted on a contemporary bar as worn, fitted with gold pin, generally good very fine or better (7) £8,000-£10,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Morton & Eden, December 2003. C.B. (Military) London Gazette 10 July 1855 K.C.B. (Military) London Gazette 29 May 1875. Claude Henry Mason Buckle was the second son of Admiral Mathew Buckle. He entered Portsmouth Naval College in 1817 and first went to sea as a volunteer aboard H.M.S. Heron in 1819. During the Burmese War he served on H.M.S. Liffey at the capture of Rangoon in 1824 and in other naval encounters, hence the Ava clasp on his Army of India medal. Subsequently he served in various ships on the South American and West Indian stations and was Flag-Lieutenant in the San Josef under Sir William Hargood. In 1840-1 he studied the theory and construction of the marine steam engine at Robert Napier's Vulcan Foundry in Glasgow and was subsequently given command of H.M.S. Growler, a new steam sloop. On the Growler he served on the African station in the suppression of the slave trade. His account (to Commander William Jones, Senior Officer, H.M.S. Penelope) of an encounter between the Growler's pinnace, under Lieutenant John Lodwick, and a Spanish slave ship off Shebar in 1845, in which two men were killed, includes the following commendation: "I trust that the successful exertions of a handful of brave men in preventing several hundred slaves from being carried off will meet with your approval and I earnestly hope will also induce you to recommend Lieut. Lodwick to the favourable notice and considerations of My Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty". The Buckle Papers include a letter from Admiral J. Bullen (dated 1st February 1850) to Buckle's father, commenting: "I beg that you will receive my sincerest congratulations on the late noble brave and spirited conduct of your son against the Pirates on the Coast of Africa .....". In 1852 he was appointed Captain of the paddle steamer Valorous and on the outbreak of war with Russia proceeded to the Baltic. He was present at the first bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands when Valorous maintained fire for almost seven hours, taking part in the second attack and eventual capitulation of the town. He subsequently distinguished himself in the Black Sea. O’Byrne records that he ‘chased the Russian steamer "Vladimir" under the forts of Sebastopol, receiving their fire; assisted in defeating the Russian land attack on Eupatoria, and in the night attacks on the Quarantine Fort, Sebastopol; "Valorous" bore the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Houston Stewart at the attack and surrender of Kinburn (Crimean and Turkish Medals, 4th class of the Medjidjie); C.B. and K.C.B.; was gazetted on three occasions’. He was Captain Superintendent at Deptford Dockyard, 1857-63, subsequently promoted to Rear-Admiral on 14 November 1863 and placed on the retirement list on 24 March 1866. He was appointed Vice-Admiral on the retired list on 1 April 1870 and Admiral on 22 January 1877. See Lot 324 for the recipient’s miniature medals.