231166: A named Lloyds Patriotic Fund vase and cover Start Price GBP 11,250.00 Current Price GBP 32,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 17 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, November 23, 2008 End Time Sunday, November 23, 2008 Location London, England, United Kingdom See more about '231166: A named Lloyds Patriotic Fund vase and cover' Description Current Lot A named Lloyds Patriotic Fund vase and cover Benjamin Smith, London 1807-08 of classic Greek Volute Krater shape, the cover with a cast figure of a lion walking on a plain circular base, the separate shoulder with gadroon border, fruiting laurel border and scroll border on matted grounds, the main body with a repoussé florid meandering scroll frieze, on a matted ground with rope twist borders, flanked by a pair of tall vertical handles with rosette bosses and rope twist banding over a rosette terminal and a formal foliate spray, the front with a chased panel of Hercules slaying the Hydra, the verso with Britannia, seated, her raised hand supporting a figure of Victory, all over a formal band of anthemions and foliate sprigs upon the stiff leaf and acanthus chased socle foot, the shoulder with engraved inscription: 'From the Patriotic Fund at Lloyds to Major Hamill of the Royal Regiment of Malta in Testimony of his gallant conduct at the Battle of Maida in Calabria on the 4th of July 1806 in which the pride of the presumptuous enemy was severely humbled and the superiority of the British troops most gloriously proved'; together with the original fitted oak case with inset brass name plaque and trade label to the lid interior 39cm high, 123oz Note: MAJOR JOHN HAMILL John Hamill came from County Antrim; he was probably born in the 1770s and is known to have been a Roman Catholic. The plain of Maida has been described as being like a 'great natural amphitheatre', with the coast forming slightly less than half its circumference and two rivers, the Ippolito and Amato, roughly bisecting the plain, the surface of which was dry dusty scrubland with patches of marsh. A French force estimated at about 7,000 men was identified, camped on the eastern ridge of the amphitheatre and on 3rd July Stuart decided to march his army into the plain early on the following day in order to tempt the French to engage him in battle. At dawn on 4th July 1806 the British brigades formed up and marched off south from their camp on the beach, wheeling left when they reached the river Amato, with the brigades forming three echeloned lines, Cole's brigade comprising the army's left flank and third line. As the British brigades deployed, the French came down the slopes to meet them and the first British line, the brigade on the right wing comprising the light infantry battalion and some companies from the Royal Corsican Rangers and Royal Sicilian Volunteers, received the initial French onslaught. As the British right wing became engaged, so Hamill was ordered to take some grenadiers across the Amato to reinforce the right flank and it may have been while in the thick of the fighting in that sector of the battlefield that he received what he later described as a 'trifling wound' - probably from a musket ball. The battle swung Britain's way in the first moments of the action since two close-range, accurate and rapid volleys of musketry from the light infantry battalion broke the French advance on the British right and the collapse of the French left wing was quickly followed up by a British pursuit with the bayonet that wrought carnage. Although the battle was brief, sustained fighting took place along the length of the British line - the 78th Highlanders in the centre sustaining heavy casualties - and at one point it appeared that the British left wing would be driven in, only the timely appearance of a battalion of 20th Foot on the British left flank saving Cole's brigade from heavy loss and potential collapse. Hamill left little record of his part in the battle of Maida, apart from the deprecating reference to his wound, and so we cannot be sure either where he sustained it or what it comprised. He was, though, one of twelve officers wounded and the only officer from his brigade to sustain a wound. Total British casualties, killed and wounded, for Maida were 327. It was estimated at the time that the number of French killed was about 700; the numbers wounded and captured varied from 1,000 to 3,000. By any standards it was a famous victory and a rare one at that time for the British army: this accounts for the rapture with which news of the battle was received in Britain when Stuart's dispatch was published in The London Gazette of 5th September 1806. Stuart was knighted, given a pension and permitted to use the title 'Conte de Maida' given him by the king of Naples; a gold medal was eventually struck and presented to each of the battalion commanders at the battle. When the Committee of the Patriotic Fund met on 16th September, it resolved that Stuart should receive a vase of the value of 300, 'in testimony of the high sense entertained by this Committee of his gallant conduct at the battle of Maida, 'in which the pride of the presumptuous Enemy was severely humbled, and the superiority of the British Troops most gloriously proved''. At the same meeting awards of 100 each were resolved for each of the field officers (lieutenant-colonels and majors) wounded at the battle, wounded officers of lower rank receiving awards of 50 and 25 and wounded men receiving proportionate financial recompense . Listed among those due to receive an award of 100 was 'Major Hammill, of the Royal Regiment of Malta'. As was usual with the Patriotic Fund, recipients of awards were contacted by the Fund to ask how they would like their award made: in the form of a sword, or of a vase or in cash. As we now know, Hamill opted for a vase, although there is now no surviving correspondence concerning this. John Hamill was buried close to where he fell in Anacapri but re-interred in the town cemetery in 1831 when one of his descendants visited Capri, saw to the re-interment and erected a plaque to his ancestor's memory. Restored in 1914, the plaque still remains in the piazza of Anacapri and reads: TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN HAMILL A NATIVE OF THE COUNTY ANTRIM IN IRELAND AND MAJOR IN HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S LATE REGIMENT OF MALTA, WHO FELL WHILE BRAVEL YRESISTING THE FRENCH INVASION OF ANACAPRI ON THE 4TH OF OCTOBER 1808, AND WHOSE MORTAL REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED NEAR TO THIS PLACE THIS TRIBUTE OF AFFECTION AND RESPECT HAS BEEN PLACED BY HIS KINSMAN AND NAMESAKE. OCTOBER 3RD 1831 REQUIESCAT IN PACE According to the records of the Patriotic Fund, Hamill's silver vase cost 97 7s 11d and was delivered by Messrs. Rundell, Bridge and Rundell on 17th November 1808, some six weeks after his death. In view of this, it must be assumed that the vase was sent to the regiment in Sicily, to which its remaining officers and men had been paroled following the fall of Capri, and then returned to Hamill's next-of-kin. The vase is recorded in 1918 as being in the possession of a Mr Andrew Hamill Ford of Yatton in Somerset. Stephen Wood MA FSA Literature: Hopton, R., The Battle of Maida 1806 (Barnsley, 2002). Knowles, Sir L., The British in Capri 1806-08 (London, 1918). Mackesy, P., The War in the Mediterranean 1803-10 (London, 1957). Note: A longer and more detailed account of the life and military service of John Hamill will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Irish Sword, journal of The Military History Society of Ireland. The Lloyds Patriotic Fund Vase originally presented to Major General Sir John Stuart (mentioned previously) also at Calabria, sold Sotheby's London, 11th November 1971, lot 15 (1,700) 167 Place a Bid!