A good Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 4 Clasps: Talavera, Albuhera, Vittoria, Toulouse awarded to Private Richard Linnard, 3rd Dragoon Guards who saw service during the Peninsula War being present at the Battle of Talavera on 27th to 28th July 1908, the Battle of Albuhera on 16th May 1811, at the Battle of Vittoria on 21st June 1813 and at the Battle of Toulouse on 10th April 1814, thus being 1 of 3 officers and 47 men to receive the maximum clasp entitlement to the unit.
Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 4 Clasps: Talavera, Albuhera, Vittoria, Toulouse; (RICHD LINNARD, 3RD DGN GDS.)
Condition: light toning, edge-bruise to the reverse rim at 9 o’clock, Good Very Fine
Provenance: Spink 1900, Glendinings June 1991
Richard Linnard from Chertsey, Surrey saw service in Spain during the Peninsula War eing present at the Battle of Talavera on 27th to 28th July 1809, the Battle of Albuhera on 16th May 1811, at the Battle of Vittoria on 21st June 1813 and in the final battle of the war, the Battle of Toulouse on 10th April 1814.
The Battle of Talavera saw the 3rd Dragoon Guards centred around a single hill following repeated bayonet charges, covered with dead and dying the cavalry won the day during a gallant charge which the regiment carried as it’s first “Battle Honour”. This was two years later repeated at Albuhera in May 1911, the losses on that occasion being considerably kinder to those present than Talavera in 1809.
It was not until 21st June 1813 that the regiment again would see action when along with the 15th Hussars they would gain their third “Battle Honour” While the regiment continued until the conflict until the French were beaten back into France at the Battle of Toulouse, the final battle of the conflict, which resulted in the regiment’s fourth “Battle Honour”
1 of 3 officers and 47 men to receive the regiment’s maximum clasp entitlement.
