A good Royal Marine Officer’s Syria 1840 operations, Baltic Operations and St. Jean D’Acre in silver group awarded to Brevet Colonel R.M. Curry, Royal Marines who had present aboard H.M.S. Thunderer in the operations off Syria taking part in the bombardment of and capture of the town of Acre on 3rd November 1840, and would later be present aboard H.M.P.V. Calcutta in the operations in the Baltic during the Russian War of 1854 to 1855. He would be retired on full pay on 6th May 1862, and would be given his final rank of Brevet Colonel on 27th May 1862.
Group of 3: Naval General Service Medal 1793-1840, 1 Clasp: Syria; (R.M. CURRY, 1ST LIEUT R.M.) Baltic Medal 1854-1855, engraved naming; (CAPTAIN R.M. CURRY. R.M.) St. Jean D’Acre Medal 1840, in silver, with suspension ring and straight bar suspender. All mounted independently on silver top bar suspenders.
Condition: contact wear, Very Fine
Robert Murray Curry would be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 22nd February 1832, initially serving at Headquarters in Plymouth, until he was posted to H.M. Ship Donegal on 19th July 1832, he would be posted to Spike Island from 20th July 1832 until 19th February 1834, and then to H.M. Ship Thunderer from 19th February to 7th April 1834. He would serve aboard the ship Britannia from 7th April until 28th November 1834, Volage from 28th November 1834 until 15th November 1835 and Caledonia from 15th November 1835 to 28th September 1837 when he returned to Headquarters at Plymouth being promoted to 1st Lieutenant on the same date.
He would join Thunderer on 11th July 1840 and as such served aboard her during the operations on an off the coast of Syria during 1840
The increasing power of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, alarmed the major European nations. In summer 1839, Egyptian forces destroyed a strong Turkish army and captured the Turkish fleet at Alexandria. With the Egyptians now in Syria, Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia intervened. A combined fleet under Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, with his flagship Princess Charlotte, of 104 guns, sailed to the eastern Mediterranean, bombarded Acre and stormed the town on 3rd November 1840. The Egyptians agreed to evacuate the town and return the Turkish fleet. Sir Robert Stopford received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament and the Freedom of the City of London for this action. Austria, Prussia, Russia, Russia and Turkey also bestowed marks of distinction.
His period aboard Thunderer would end on 11th February 1843 when he would return to Headquarters at Plymouth. He would be employed in Ireland from 30th December 1843 until 25th December 1844, when he would return to Plymouth. He would move from Plymouth to Pembroke Dock on 11th August 1846, staying there until he returned to Plymouth on 17th May 1847. Transferring to Portsmouth on 5th January 1848, he would be posted to recruit in Birmingham from 1st September 1848 until 18th January 1849, returning to Portsmouth where he would be exchanged to Plymouth on 13th June 1850. He would once again be sent on recruiting duty, firstly at Barnstaple from 22nd November 1850 to 28th October 1851, and another location which is unclear from 29th October 1851 until 30th November 1853. He would then return to Plymouth Headquarters serving there from 1st December 1853 until 12th May 1854 when he was posted to H.M.P.V. Calcutta, seeing serving with this Padel Vessel from 13th May 1854 until 1st March 1856 including in operations in the Baltic during the Russian War of 1854 to 1855.
He would return to Plymouth on 2nd March 1856, moving to Woolwich on 22nd September 1858, Plymouth on 17th October 1858. He would be appointed a Lieutenant Colonel on 7th July 1859 at Portsmouth and then a Brevet Colonel on 27th May 1862 at Plymouth. Having retired on Full Pay on 6th May 1862. He died on 1st May 1889
