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Auction: 25001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 11

(x) The Waterloo Medal awarded to Private J. Buxton, King's Dragoon Guards, who was killed in action at the Battle of Waterloo

Waterloo 1815 (James Buxton, 1st Reg. Dragoon Guards.), slight edge bruise, very fine

Provenance:
Glendining's, September 1902; December 1915
Hayward's Gazette, September 1970
Nimrod Dix & Co., 1985.

James Buxton was born at Ashover, Derbyshire in 1793 and saw service with the Norfolk Fencible Cavalry. He later joined the King's Dragoon Guards - appearing on their paylist on 25 December 1814 with 1 Troop - with whom he served under the command of Captain William Elton's at the Battle of Waterloo.

On that famous day Buxton would have shared in that first great charge of the Household Brigade (1st and 2nd Life Guards, Royal Horse Guards and K.D.G. - 1220 sabres in all) against the 1st and 4th Cuirassiers of Dubois's Brigade. The Brigade was positioned to the rear-centre of the Allied army, directly above the fortified farmhouse of La Haie Sainte. They made a well-executed charge at approximately 2.20pm; French cavalry of the 1st and 4th Cuirassiers had just broken a battalion of Hanoverian infantry and the Household Brigade went forward to counter-attack and save the survivors as best they could.

This they achieved but, like their comrades in the Union Brigade, they made the mistake of pursuing their shattered enemy too far thus leaving themselves - on winded horses and on muddy ground - open to counterattack in turn. Consequently, of the 583 officers and men who mounted up that day, 279 (some 48%) were casualties by the end of the battle, including their commanding officer and six other officers.

Buxton was one of those killed in action during the Charge, likely during the counter-charge of the French horse. The Prize list for Prize money during Battle of Waterloo and Capture of Paris lists James Buxton DD (discharged dead).

Sold together with a copied extract from the Waterloo Records of the 1st (or) King's Dragoon Guards.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Estimate
£3,000 to £5,000

Starting price
£2400