Naval General Service, 1793-1840, single clasp, Trafalgar (Mark Sweny. Actg. Lieut.), erased and engraved in contemporary upright capitals, lightly toned, a few small spots and hairlines, very fine. NOTE: Captain Mark Halpen Sweny (1783-1865) was born in Dublin, the second son of Eugene Sweny, a druggist from Mary Street, Dublin, Ireland, and Elizabeth Halpen. He joined the Royal Navy in 1798 as a 1st Class Volunteer, and rose to the rank of Midshipman the following year aboard H.M.S. Castor. Whilst aboard this vessel, an explosion of powder mutilated both of his hands and blinded him temporarily. Later in his career he joined H.M.S. Colossus in 1805 as Acting Lieutenant, and during this famous battle he was also severely wounded. Sweny was promoted to Lieutenant on the 22nd of January 1806 and served aboard HMS Africa in 1808 where he was wounded again during the subsequent action against the Danish flotilla in the Malmö Channel. It is said that he lost one or two fingers in the action off Malmö, and when seen in combination with his earlier wounds, he came to be called ‘Three Finger Jack’. Sweny left the Africa, and took part in an action in China on the St. Alban’s in 1809, under Capt. F. W. Austen (Jane’s brother) with whom he became friends, and did have occasion to meet Jane later in life. In 1815 he served as First Lieutenant aboard HMS Northumberland he accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to St Helena, and the United Services Gazette dated the 2nd of December, 1865, records the following: ‘Napoleon several times played chess with Lieutenant Sweny, and on one occasion remarked to him that he could not but think he had seen him previously in military attire. On explanation it appeared that Lieutenant Sweny’s brother, a Captain in the King’s Dragoon Guards, had, when desperately wounded at Waterloo, been taken prisoner, and carried before Napoleon, who questioned him on several points and, observing that he was faint from loss of blood, ordered his own surgeon to attend him; curiously enough, this was the first intimation Lieutenant Sweny had of his brother’s life having been placed in jeopardy in that battle. Napoleon added: “Telles sont les vicissitudes de la vie; votre frère était mon prisonnier, et je suis maintenant la votre”. This is an additional example of Napoleon’s remarkable memory for physiognomy, Lieutenant Sweny and his brother being very much alike.’ Sweny is also mentioned in ‘Diaries of a Lady of Quality’ (1797-1844) by Miss Frances Williams Wynn, who had met him at a ball in Hastings in 1822. She calls him Captain Sweeney, so she was probably writing from her notes after 1838, when he had been promoted. He gave her an account of another encounter with the famous prisoner during his long voyage. She reports one exchange Sweny had with Napoleon: ‘One day he was sitting on deck in rain such as I am told can scarcely be conceived by those who have not felt tropical rains: Bertrand, Montholon, and Lascasas were all standing round him bareheaded. My informant spoke to them, and especially to Lascasas, who has very delicate health, telling them they would make themselves ill if they did not put on their hats: they did not answer, and Buonaparte gave him a very angry look, but said nothing. He then said, ‘General, you had better send for a cloak; you’ll be wetted to the skin’. He very sternly replied, ‘I am not made of sugar or salt.’ In 1816 he was awarded a pension for his wounds of £91.5s annually. Sweny was promoted to Commander in 1821, and in 1838 he was promoted to captain, receiving a pension for his wounds, and he ended his days as a Resident Captain (Governor) in Greenwich Hospital. He died in 1865 and the inscription on his gravestone at Greenwich Pleasaunce reads: ‘Mark Halpen Sweny, Captain Royal Navy, Served in H.M.S. “Colossus” at Trafalgar, Died 25th. Novr 1865, Aged 82 Years’. Another medal to the same recipient, but officially impressed, was sold with a matching portrait painting at Spink on the 16th of July, 1996 (lot 204).
