A good Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 1 Clasp: Java awarded to Private W. Harrison, 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot who saw service during the invasion of the Dutch colony Java in the Dutch East Indies between August and September 1811. 1 of 101 single clasp Military General Service Medals clasp Java to the Regiment including 7 to officers.
Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 1 Clasp: Java; (W. HARRISON. 59TH FOOT.)
Condition: some minor contact wear, and a small edge-bruise at 8 o’clock, otherwise Good Very Fine
William Harrison was born in Barrow-upon-Soar, Loughborough, Leicestershire circa 1871. He would enlist into the 59th Foot on 24th September 1803 and served with the 1st Battalion until his final discharge due to ‘general debility’. His description at this time show him to be 39 years of age, 5ft 8 ½ inches tall, light brown hair, hazel eyes, fair complexion and by trade a Labourer. He is shown as having been a good solider. Served in the East Indies for 18 years and two days. Awarded a pension of 1/2d per day and died at Leicester on 27th January 1865. The invasion of Java was a successful British amphibious operation against Java in the Dutch East Indies between August and September 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. Originally established as a colony of the Dutch East India Company, Java remained in Dutch hands throughout the French Revolutionary Wars, during which the French invaded the Dutch Republic, transforming it into the Batavian Republic in 1795 and the Kingdom of Holland in 1806. The Kingdom of Holland was annexed to the First French Empire in 1810, and Java became a French colony, though it continued to be administered and garrisoned primarily with Dutch personnel.
After their capture of the French West Indies between 1809 and 1810, and a successful campaign against France's possessions in Mauritius from 1810 to 1811, British attention turned to the Dutch East Indies. An expedition was dispatched from British India in April 1811, while a small squadron of Royal Navy frigates was ordered to patrol off the island, raiding shipping and launching amphibious assaults against targets of opportunity. British troops landed on 4 August, and by 8 August the undefended city of Batavia capitulated. The defenders withdrew to a previously prepared fortified position, Fort Cornelis, which the British besieged, capturing it early in the morning of 26 August. The remaining defenders, a mixture of Dutch and French regulars and native militiamen, withdrew, pursued by the British. A series of amphibious and land assaults captured most of the remaining strongholds, and the city of Salatiga surrendered on 16 September, followed by the official capitulation of the island to the British on 18 September.
The island remained in British hands for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars, but was returned to Dutch control in 1816, as per the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.
1 of 101 single clasp Java Military General Service Medals to the 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot including 7 officers.
