An Albuhera casualty Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 3 Clasps: Martinique, Busaco, Albuhera awarded to Private William Barker, 7th Regiment of Foot – Royal Fusiliers who would take part in the capture of Martinique in 1809 before later being present at the Battle of Busaco on 27th September 1810 and finally at the Battle of Albuhera on 16th May 1811 where he would be wounded in the right leg during the Battle of Albuhera. 1 of 16 medals with this clasp combination to the British Army, all of which were issued to the 7th Regiment of Foot.
Military General Service Medal 1793-1814, 3 Clasps: Martinique, Busaco, Albuhera; (WILLIAM BARKER, 7TH FOOT.)
Condition: edge-bruise to the reverse rim at 6 o’clock, otherwise Good Very Fine
Provenance: ex Spink 1886, Glendinning November 1926
William Barker, from Halifax, enlisted on 7th October 1806, giving his trade as a cloth draper, and would serve as a Private with the 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment of Foot – Royal Fusiliers. He would take part in the capture of Martinique in 1809 where the British mustered a large expeditionary force under Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Lieutenant-General George Beckwith, commanding 29 ships and 10,000 men – almost four times the number of French regular troops garrisoning Martinique. Landing in force on both the southern and northern coasts of the island, British troops pushed inland, defeating French regulars in the central highlands and routing colonial militia units in the south of the island. By 9 February, the entire island was in British hands except Fort Desaix, a powerful fortification intended to protect the island capital of Fort-de-France, which had been bypassed during the British advance. In a siege lasting 15 days, the Fort was constantly bombarded, with the French garrison suffering 200 casualties before finally surrendering.
He would then travel to the Iberian Peninsula where he would take part of the Battle of Busaco, which was fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Barker’s final action would be at the Battle of Albuhera which took place on 16th May 1811, during which he would be wounded in the right leg.
From October 1810, Marshal Masséna's French Army of Portugal had been tied down in an increasingly hopeless stand-off against Wellington's Allied forces, safely entrenched in and behind the Lines of Torres Vedras. Acting on Napoleon's orders, in early 1811 Marshal Soult led a French expedition from Andalusia into Extremadura in a bid to draw Allied forces away from the Lines and ease Masséna's plight. Napoleon's information was outdated and Soult's intervention came too late; starving and understrength, Masséna's army was already withdrawing to Spain. Soult was able to capture the strategically important fortress at Badajoz on the border between Spain and Portugal from the Spanish, but was forced to return to Andalusia following Marshal Victor's defeat in March at the Battle of Barrosa. However, Soult left Badajoz strongly garrisoned. In April, following news of Masséna's complete withdrawal from Portugal, Wellington sent a powerful Anglo-Portuguese corps commanded by General Sir William Beresford to retake the border town. The Allies drove most of the French from the surrounding area and began the siege of Badajoz.
Soult rapidly gathered a new army from the French forces in Andalusia and, joining with the troops retreating before Beresford, he marched to relieve the siege. With intelligence of another approaching force—a Spanish army under General Joaquín Blake—he planned to turn Beresford's flank and interpose his army between the two. However, Soult was again acting on outdated information; unknown to the marshal, the Spaniards had already linked up with the Anglo-Portuguese corps, and his 24,000 troops now faced a combined Allied army 35,000 strong.
The opposing armies met at the village of Albuera, both sides suffering heavily in the ensuing battle. The French finally withdrew on 18 May, but Beresford's troops, although too battered and exhausted to pursue, were able to resume the investment of Badajoz. Despite Soult's failure to relieve the town, the battle had little strategic effect on the war. Just one month later, in June 1811, the Allies were forced to abandon their siege by the approach of the reconstituted French Armies of Portugal and Andalusia.
Barker would be discharged on 25th November 1812. This is 1 of 16 medals to the British Army with this clasp combination, all of which were issued to the 7th Regiment of Foot.
