A very fine Officer’s Peninsula War Battle of Salamanca and Battle of Waterloo Company Commander casualty group awarded to Lieutenant, later Captain Hugh Harrison, 32nd Regiment of Foot who was present during the Peninsular War at the Battle of Salamanca on 22nd July 1812 where 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. He would later go on to command a company as part of the 1st Battalion, 32nd Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Waterloo where he was severely wounded in the fighting of 18th June 1815, the 1st Battalion, 32nd Foot being heavily engaged on the day and suffering a casualty rate of 56%.
Group of 3: Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 1 Clasp: Salamanca; (H. HARRISON. LIEUT. 32ND FOOT.) Waterloo Medal 1815 fitted with original steel clip and ring suspension (CAPTAIN HUGH HARRISON 32ND REGIMENT FOOT) France: First Empire: Legion of Honour breast badge in silver gold and enamels, this lacking the obverse centre and almost all of the enamel. House in it a fitted period display case along with a fine portrait miniature of the recipient
Condition: the first, Good Very Fine, the second with light contacting and some edge-bruising in places, the third lacking the obverse centre and almost all of the enamel.
Hugh Harrison was the youngest son of Hugh Harrison of Churchfield townland near Ballycastle, County Antrim on 22nd October 1783, would be appointed an Ensign in the 32nd Regiment of Foot – Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on 21st November 1805, before later being promoted to Lieutenant on 18th June 1807 and appointed an Adjutant on 8th April or May 1808 a role, in which he would serve during the Peninsula War. Having been promoted to Captain 11th June 1812, he would serve at Salamanca in 1812.
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.
The battle involved a succession of flanking manoeuvres in oblique order, initiated by the British heavy cavalry brigade and Pakenham's 3rd Division and continued by the cavalry and the 4th, 5th and 6th divisions. These attacks resulted in a rout of the French left wing. Marmont and his deputy commander, General Bonet, received shrapnel wounds in the first few minutes of firing. Confusion amongst the French command may have been decisive in creating an opportunity, which Wellington seized.
General Bertrand Clauzel, third in seniority, assumed command and ordered a counter-attack by the French reserve toward the depleted Allied centre. The move proved partly successful but with Wellington having sent his reinforcements to the centre, the Anglo-Portuguese forces prevailed.
Allied losses numbered 3,129 British and 2,038 Portuguese dead or wounded. The Spanish troops took no part in the battle as they were positioned to block French escape routes and suffered just six casualties. The French suffered about 13,000 dead, wounded and captured. As a consequence of Wellington's victory, his army was able to advance to and liberate Madrid for two months, before retreating to Portugal. The French were forced to abandon Andalusia permanently while the loss of Madrid irreparably damaged King Joseph's pro-French government.
Harrison as a Captain, would command a company at the Battle of Waterloo, where he was severely wounded in the fighting of 18th June 1815.
At the battles of Waterloo & Quatre Bras, the 1st Battalion 32nd Regiment of which Harrison’s company was part, suffered 370 casualties out of 662 men, over half of their strength becoming casualties at a rate of 56%, their total strength mustered after the 2 days of battle, stood at 131 men.
Later placed on half pay at his own request on 16th May 1822, he would still be receiving half pay in 1860. Living in his house near Ballymena, he named it Hougoumont, after the famous farm that was the centre of the fighting during the Battle of Waterloo. He was later a churchwarden of Ballymena, this being noted in 1827, 1846 and 1851 and was a guardian of the Ballymena poor-law union.
