The unique Victorian campaign and long service group of six awarded to Petty Officer S....

The unique Victorian campaign and long service group of six awarded to Petty Officer S. Ford, Royal Navy, one of just six naval recipients of the ‘Red River 1870’ clasp Abyssinia 1867 (S. Ford Boy. 1. Cl. H.M.S. Argus); Canada General Service 1866-70, 2 clasps, Fenian Raid 1870, Red River 1870 (A-B: S. Ford, H.M.S. Royal Alfred) officially impressed naming, the Red River clasp of later issue type; South Africa 1877-79, 1 clasp, 1879 (”Shah” S. Ford. P.O. 2nd Cl. H.M.S.) officially re-engraved naming; Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Alexandria 11th July (S. Ford. Qr. Mr. H.M.S. “Helicon”); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., narrow suspension (Samuel Ford P.O. 2nd Cl. H.M.S. Shah.) engraved naming; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, some adhesive deposits to reverses, light contact marks, otherwise very fine or better (6) £4,000-£5,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Alan Hall Collection, June 2000. Just eight Fenian Raid 1870 clasps and six Red River 1870 clasps were awarded to the Royal Navy, and only four medals with both clasps. Samuel Ford was born in Lymington, Hampshire on the 13 November 1850, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in May 1865. Having then been advanced to Boy 1st Class he joined H.M.S. Argos in May 1867, in which ship he served in the Abyssinia operations of 1867-68. Advanced to Ordinary Seaman in December 1868, he joined the Royal Alfred in March 1869 for services on the Canadian Lakes and was present at various skirmishes with the Fenians in addition to the action at the Red River in 1870. He also gained promotion to Able Seaman in January 1873. Upon his return to England after a four-year commission aboard Royal Alfred, Ford served in Excellent from January 1874, Malabar from September 1875, back in Excellent from April 1876 and in Penelope from June 1876 until December 1877. And during his next seagoing appointment in Triumph, from May to -November 1878, he was advanced to Petty Officer 2nd Class. Moreover, Ford went on to witness further active service, firstly in the Shah’s Naval Brigade in the Zulu War in 1879, and afterwards as a recently promoted Petty Officer 1st Class in Helicon at the bombardment of Alexandria on 11 July 1882. Further seagoing appointments having ensued in the interim, he was finally pensioned ashore in April 1889, after completing 20 years adult service. Sold with copied record of service and other research.