A unique to the British Army Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 4 Clasps: Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees who saw service with the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot during the Peninsula War and would be present at the battle of Talavera from 27th to 28th July 1809, the Battle of Salamanca on 22nd July 1812 at the Battle of Vittoria on 21st June 1813 and during the fighting in the Pyrenees from 25th July to 2nd August 1813. While there are other medals with extra clasps that contain these four clasps, this as a purely 4 clasp medal is unique to the British Army according to the Noonans Online Roll.
Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 4 Clasps: Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees; (J. NOBLE. 53RD FOOT.)
Condition: some light polishing to the clasps, small edge-bruise at 6 o’clock, Good Very Fine
Provenance: Glendinning’s September 1987
John Noble saw service with the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot during the Peninsula War and would be present at the battle of Talavera from 27th to 28th July 1809, the Battle of Salamanca on 22nd July 1812 at the Battle of Vittoria on 21st June 1813 and during the fighting in the Pyrenees from 25th July to 2nd August 1813.
The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Gregorio García de la Cuesta fought in operations against French-occupied Madrid. At nightfall, the French army withdrew a short distance after several of its attacks had been repulsed; the allies, having suffered comparable casualties to the French, made no attempt to pursue.
The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22 July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington (future Duke of Wellington) defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, south of Salamanca, Spain, during the Peninsular War. A Spanish division was also present but took no part in the battle. At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813), a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leading to victory in the Peninsular War. The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive (the author David Chandler recognises the 'battle' as an offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon's order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián. After initial success the offensive ground to a halt in the face of increased allied resistance under the command of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington. Soult abandoned the offensive on 30 July and headed toward France, having failed to relieve either garrison.
The Battle of the Pyrenees involved several distinct actions. On 25 July, Soult and two French corps fought the reinforced British 4th Division and a Spanish division at the Battle of Roncesvalles. The Allied force successfully held off all attacks during the day, but retreated from the Roncesvalles Pass that night in the face of overwhelming French numerical superiority. Also on the 25th, a third French corps severely tried the British 2nd Division at the Battle of Maya. The British withdrew from the Maya Pass that evening. Wellington rallied his troops a short distance north of Pamplona and repelled the attacks of Soult's two corps at the Battle of Sorauren on 28 July.
Instead of falling back to the northeast toward Roncesvalles Pass, Soult made contact with his third corps on 29 July and began to move north. On 30 July, Wellington attacked Soult's rearguards at Sourauren, driving some French troops to the northeast, while most continued to the north. Rather than use the Maya Pass, Soult elected to head north up the Bidassoa River valley. He managed to evade Allied attempts to surround his troops at Yanci on 1 August and escaped across a nearby pass after a final rearguard action at Etxalar on 2 August. The French suffered nearly twice as many casualties as the Allied army.
While there a number of medals with more clasps that contain these four clasps as part of a combination, this according to the Noonans Online Roll is a unique 4 clasp medal combination in the British Army.
