THE NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL 1793-1840 WITH SYRIA CLASP AND CRIMEAN WAR CAMPAIGN GROUP TO SERGEANT (LATER COLOUR SERGEANT) NICHOLAS WALTERS, ROYAL MARINES, WHO SAW SERVICE ABOARD H.M.S. GANGES DURING THE SYRIA OPERATIONS IN 1840 AND SUBSEQUENTLY SAW SERVICE DURING THE CRIMEAN WAR ABOARD H.M.S. BRITANNIA, H.M.S. ROYAL ALBERT AND ASHORE WITH THE NAVAL BRIGADE IN THE CRIMEA DURING THE BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA AND SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. Four: Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Syria (officially impressed: NICHs. WALTERS.); Crimea Medal, 2 clasps, Balaklava, Sebastopol (unnamed, as issued to officers and men of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines who saw service ashore during the Crimean War with the Naval Brigade); St Jean d'Acre Medal 1840, bronze (unnamed, as issued); Turkish Crimea Medal, British flag to the fore (unnamed, as issued).
Turkish Crimea Medal holed to take original silver jump ring and ring suspender, suspender slack on Naval General Service Medal, scattered surface contact marks and rim nicks, otherwise generally Good Very Fine.
Nicholas Walters is a unique name on the Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840 roll, which confirms that he saw service as a Private in the Royal Marines aboard HMS Ganges during the Syria campaign of 1840.
Medal accompanied by biographical details, copied extracts service record (ADM 157/1064), Naval General Service Medal rolls (2, original and published), confirming medal and clasp, extract St Jean d'Acre Medal roll, confirming entitlement for service during the Syria operations of 1840 aboard HMS Ganges, extracts Crimea Medal rolls, confirming medal with clasps Balaklava and Sebastopol, for service during the Crimean War aboard HMS Britannia and HMS Royal Albert, and ashore as a Sergeant with the Royal Marine Brigade (Crimea rolls additionally confirm Crimea Medal "sent to Woolwich 7/2/56"), and Chelsea Pensioner Admission Records confirming that Walters was granted a permanent pension on 24/2/1859, as an out-pensioner based initially at Wolverhampton, but with payments to him at Bristol from August 1859 onwards.
Nicholas Walters (1818-1883) was born in East Ogwell, Devon. Service record confirms Walters as having enlisted into the Woolwich Division, Royal Marines, at Bath on 22/11/1836. At the time of enlistment Walters stated his age as 19 and his trade as that of tailor. Walters was promoted Corporal, 9/12/1842, Sergeant, 1/2/1845 and Colour Sergeant, 8/12/1855. He was discharged on 21/2/1859 with the rank of Colour Sergeant, after serving 22 years with the colours. In addition to 14 years and 72 days service ashore in the UK, Walters saw service afloat and on foreign stations for 8 years and 20 days.
Walters is recorded in the 1861 census as a 42 year old Greenwich Pensioner resident in Bristol with his 44 year old wife and 12 year old daughter, in the 1871 census as a 53 year old tailor resident in Bristol with his 54 year old wife (details for the Walters family from the 1871 census are mis-transcribed in the Ancestry record of this census return, giving the ages of Walters and his wife incorrectly as 63 and 54 respectively). Walters is recorded in the 1881 census as a 63 year old tailor resident in Bristol with his 65 year old wife.
Colour Sergeant Walters was also entitled to the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (wide suspender).
HMS Ganges was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line launched on 10/11/1821. The last sailing ship in the Royal Navy to serve as a flagship, she took part in the bombardment of Beirut and the blockade of Alexandria during the Syrian campaign of 1840 and saw service in various guises well into the 20th century, not being broken up until 1930.
HMS Britannia was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line, laid down in 1813, launched on 20/10/1820 and was eventually broken up in 1869.
HMS Royal Albert was a 121-gun three-decker, initially designed as a sailing ship but converted to screw propulsion while still under construction. Laid down in August 1844, she was launched in May 1854 and eventually broken up in 1884.
