The regimentally important Battle of the Alma Colour Party Officers Crimea Medal 1854-1856, 3 Clasps: Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol, engraved naming, awarded to Captain later Colonel Sir Peter Arthur Halkett, V.D., D.L., J.P., FSA Scot, 42nd Royal Highlande
11007
Description:
The regimentally important Battle of the Alma Colour Party Officer’s Crimea Medal 1854-1856, 3 Clasps: Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol, engraved naming, awarded to Captain later Colonel Sir Peter Arthur Halkett, V.D., D.L., J.P., FSA Scot, 42nd Royal Highlanders Regiment of Foot - the Black Watch, and the 8th and final Baronet Halkett of Pitfirrane in Fifeshire. Halkett, was originally commissioned by purchase into the 81st Regiment of Foot - the Loyal Lincoln Volunteers in July 1851, and then transferred as a Lieutenant to the Black Watch, with whom he saw distinguished service during the Crimean War. Present in action at the Battle of Alma on 25th October 1854, he is known to have carried his regiment’s ‘Queens’ Colours during this action. He went on to present at the Battle of Balaklava on 25th October 1854, and during the siege of Sebastopol, being wounded in action, promoted to Captain, and awarded the Sardinian Al Valore Militare Medal in Silver. After further service as a Captain with the 3rd Light Dragoons between 1857 and 1860, he went on to hold commissions in both the Volunteer Corps and the Militia, being a Captain in the 1st Fifeshire Light Horse Volunteer Corps between 1860 and 1881, for this he was awarded the Volunteer Decoration in November 1892. He was also Lieutenant Colonel Commandant and Honorary Colonel of the Fife Artillery Militia, and of the Royal Artillery Militia with the 4th Brigade, Scottish Division. A Deputy Lieutenant for Fife, a Justice of the Peace, he also served with the Spanish Embassy in 1878, being appointed a Knight of the Spanish Order of Isabella Catolica, and later a Commander within the same order. In the London Gazette of 26th February 1879, he was announced as a Partner in The Union Bank of Scotland. The 8th Baronet Halkett of Pitfirrine from 1847 through to his death in March 1904, owing to the death of his son, a Captain in the 79th Highlanders, who died of illness during the Nile Expedition on 23rd August 1885, and the death of his grandson at Gibralter in October 1886, the Baronetcy, oriignally created through the Baronetcy of Nova Scotia in 1697, then became extinct.
Crimea Medal 1854-1856, 3 Clasps: Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol, engraved naming; (CAPT. SIR ARTHUR HALKETT. BART. 42ND. HIGHDS.)
Sir Peter Arthur Halkett, V.D., D.L., J.P., FSA Scot, 8th Baronet Halkett of Pitfirrane, and known as Sir Arthur Halkett, was born on 1st May 1834, and succeeded to the title in 1847, on the death of his father, Sir John Halkett, 7th Baronet. Educated at Cheltenham College between January 1848 and June 1851. Commissioned into the British Army on 11th July 1851 as an Ensign by purchase into the 81st Regiment of Foot - the Loyal Lincoln Volunteers, he then transferred as a Lieutenant to the 42nd Royal Highlanders Regiment of Foot - the Black Watch, and went on to see service out in the Crimea during the Russian War, being present in action at the Battle of Alma on 25th October 1854, the Battle of Balaklava on 25th October 1854, and the siege of Sebastopol which lasted from 11th September 1854 through to 9th September 1855. It was at the Battle of Alma that Halkett carried his regiment’s ‘Queens’ Colours. He was also wounded in action, awarded the Sardinian Al Valore Militare Medal in Silver for his services during the Crimean War, and promoted to Captain. Later in life The Dunfermline Press of 30th June 1900 would recount that ‘Sir Arthur Halkett entertained at Pitfirrine more than twenty veterans of the 42nd Royal Highlanders. All had served in the Crimean War and many of them had been present at the Battle of the Alma where Sir Arthur then a Subaltern carried the Queens Colours of the Royal Highlanders.’ When Halkett’s medals were sold as the full group at Wallis and Wallis on 12th May 1988 (a copy of the catalogue is included with this medal - which itself featured in the sale but has since become split from the rest of the group), there was also included in the lot the following artefact with note, ‘a small remnant of cloth with old label attached ‘Pieces of the ‘Queens’ and ‘Regimental’ colours of the 42nd Highlanders (Carried by Sir Arthur Halkett at the Battle of the Alma)’. Place on half pay in the aftermath of the Crimean War, Halkatt returned to duty as a Captain with the 3rd Light Dragoons on 9th October 1857, and then transferred into the Volunteer Corps as a Captain with the 4th Fifeshire Mounted Rifles on 11th July 1860. Halkett was then at the same time a serving officer in the Militia, being promoted to Major in the Fife Artillery Militia on 12th June 1868, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Commandant of this unit on 30th April 1873. He resigned his Volunteer Force commission in the rank of Captain in the 1st Fifeshire Volunteer Horse on 8th June 1881, and continued with the Militia, being appointed Honorary Colonel of the Royal Artillery Militia with the 4th Brigade, Scottish Division on 6th March 1885, before resigning his commission in the Militia as a Lieutenant Colonel Commandant and Honorary Colonel on 12th May 1888. Sir Arthur Halkett was awarded the Volunteer Decoration on 22nd November 1892, this in the rank of Captain (Retired) with the 1st Fifeshire Light Horse Volunteer Corps. His military service aside, Sir Arthur Halkett, married his cousin, Eliza Ann Hill, daughter of Captain Richard Kirwan Hill, 52nd Foot, on 6th May 1856, with whom he had three daughters and a son, though two of his daughters died at birth. He divided his time between a residence in Rothesay Place, Edinburgh, and his family estate at Pitfirrane Castle in Dunfernline, Fife. He was a Deputy Lieutenant for Fife, a Justice of the Peace, and also served with the Spanish Embassy in 1878, being appointed a Knight of the Spanish Order of Isabella Catolica, and later a Commander within the same order. In the London Gazette of 26th February 1879, he was announced as a Partner in The Union Bank of Scotland, and until 1878, was Master of the West Fife Hounds (later the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Hunt). Appointed a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1882, he was a member of the Carlton, Junior United Services and New Edinburgh Clubs. Colonel Sir (Peter) Arthur Halkett, 8th Baronet of Pitfirrane, died on 8th March 1904, when the Baronetcy became extinct. His Baronetcy was held within the Baronetcy of Nova Scotia, and had been originally created on 31st December 1697. His only son, Wedderburn Conway Halkett, born in February 1857 at Shenley Lodge, Hertfordshire, had been a Captain in the 79th Highlanders, and had died of illness during the Nile Expedition on 23rd August 1885. He had been married and had one son, Arthur Wedderburn Halkett, born in 1882, who died at Gibraltar in October 1886. When Sir Arthur Halkett’s medals were originally sold Wallis and Wallis on 12th May 1988, the group comprised his Knight's Baronet's Badge of Nova Scotia, this in gold and enamels, with the following court mounted group which began with the above Crimea Medal with three clasps and and engraved as such to him; the Volunteer Decoration, engraved on the reverse to him as Capt. Fife Light Horse 1860-1881; the Spanish insignia of a Knight of the Order of Isabella Catolica, breast badge in gold and enamels; the Sardinian Al Valore Militare in Silver, reverse engraved: ‘Capt. Sir Peter A. Halkett Bart 42nd Regt’; and the Turkish Crimea Medal 1855, Sardinian issue, rim engraved: ‘Sir A. Halkett Bart Capt. 42nd Regt.’ There was also separately the insignia of the Spanish Order of Isabella Catolica, neck badge and breast star, in gold and enamels; a portrait miniature and the remnants of the ‘Queens’ and ‘Regimental’ Colours as mentioned above. A previous lot comprised the Royal Guelphic Order Knight Grand Cross insignia of the collar chain and breast star, as awarded to Admiral Sir Peter Halkett, G.C.H., Royal Navy. He had been an Admiral of the Blue and had commanded the frigate Circe in the Battle of Campderdown in 1797. He had been the 6th Baron Halkett of Pitfirrane. Sold with a copied photograph of the recipient, taken prior to 1878 when he was the Master of the West Fife Hounds. some contact wear, and light edge bruising to reverse rim, overall Very Fine
