A named Lloyds Patriotic Fund vase and cover
Benjamin Smith, London 1807-08
£39,650
Auction: 23 November 2008 at 15:00 GMT
Description
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
Footnote
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. Commissioned ensign in 2nd Regiment, The Irish Brigade, with effect from 1st October 1794, he was promoted lieutenant on 25th December 1795. Hamill's first regiment was one of six such regiments raised in Ireland in October 1794 from the remnants of the famous Irish regiments of the Royal French Army. Most of the officers of Britain's Irish Brigade had previously served the King of France and all were Roman Catholics: they were enabled to receive commissions in the British armed forces as a result of the relaxation of the anti-Catholic Penal Laws in the early 1790s. John Hamill was appointed to 2nd Regiment, known also by the name of its colonel - Antoine, Comte de Walsh-Serrant, since his family was linked by marriage to that of the regiment's colonel.
The Irish Brigade was raised specifically to serve in the West Indies. Britain had gone to war with Revolutionary France in February 1793 and was soon hard-pressed on most fronts, especially in the Caribbean - where the rich sugar islands had become early targets of French attacks. Hamill's regiment was sent to the West Indies late in 1796 to serve initially in Martinique, then in Jamaica and finally in Santo Domingo (modern Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Seriously reduced in manpower by tropical disease, the remains of the regiment returned to Britain in 1798 to be disbanded and Hamill spent five months on half-pay before, on 19th April 1799, exchanging into 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot, then stationed at Gibraltar. On 2nd March 1800, after eleven months on the muster rolls of 70th Foot, Hamill was able to purchase the rank of captain in 1st West India Regiment, one of several such regiments raised in the mid-1790s in the West Indies from indigenous soldiers immune to local disease; he did not, though, return to the Caribbean. On 2nd May 1800 Hamill exchanged into the newly-raised 2nd battalion of 40th (2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot. 2nd/40th Foot was stationed initially in Malta and subsequently in Menorca but Hamill spent his service with 2nd/40th as aide-de-camp to Major General William Villettes, a soldier of Huguenot descent who had become a correspondent and friend of Nelson and who was, at the time, second-in-command of the forces in Malta. Britain's temporary truce with France known as the 'Peace of Amiens' resulted in the disbandment of Hamill's battalion in July 1802 and he retired to half-pay, although probably remaining in Malta.
The resumption of the war with France in the spring of 1803 enabled Hamill to return to full pay and on 22nd October 1803 he obtained a captaincy in the newly-raised 2nd battalion of 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot, initially based in Ireland but subsequently stationed in Jersey. Hamill, though, never served with his battalion, remaining on the staff in Malta. On 7th December 1804 Hamill was appointed senior major in the Royal Regiment of Malta, raised in that island by Major General Villettes who by that time was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. The Royal Regiment of Malta was mainly recruited from Maltese citizens, its senior officers, like Hamill, being brought in from other units and often on promotion.
Malta had been captured by the French from the Knights of the Order of St John in 1798 and taken by the British in 1800: it was a key British stronghold with a major fleet anchorage in the central Mediterranean. Prior to the beginning of the war in the Iberian Peninsula in 1808, the Mediterranean represented one of the few theatres in which the British and their allies could attack the French on land. A British expeditionary force under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir James Craig arrived in Malta in July 1805: it was tasked to shore-up Britain's only ally in Italy, the kingdom of Naples, and, in concert with a Russian force, to prevent the French from gaining control of the entire Italian peninsula. As part of preparations for service in Italy, Craig reorganised his forces by forming battalions of grenadiers and light infantrymen from the grenadier and light infantry companies of his infantry regiments. John Hamill was seconded from the Royal Regiment of Malta and appointed second-in-command of Craig's grenadier battalion.
Russo-British operations in southern Italy during late 1805 were unsuccessful and, early in 1806, French forces gained control of the entire Italian peninsula, forcing the king of Naples to take refuge in Sicily. Sicily was then garrisoned by British and Neapolitan troops, with its coasts patrolled by Royal Navy ships against the threat of invasion from the mainland, and Hamill remained there with the grenadier battalion while opportunities were sought to attack French forces on the mainland of Italy.
The expedition that resulted in the Battle of Maida was one of these opportunities. Intended not only to force the French out of southern Italy - and thereby to secure Sicily - but also to divert major French forces away from their activities in central Europe, it was launched late in June 1806, the troopships anchoring at the northern end of the gulf of Santa Eufemia - just above the 'instep' of the 'toe' of Italy in Lower Calabria - on 30th June. The British field army of slightly more than 5,000 men, commanded by Major General John Stuart, comprised 4 brigades and disembarked on 1st July: a beachhead was secured and advance parties sent inland to reconnoitre. Hamill's grenadier battalion was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert O'Callaghan and brigaded with 1st battalion, 27th (Enniskillen) Regiment of Foot, the brigade being commanded by Brigadier Lowry Cole: both of Hamill's immediate superiors were fellow-Irishmen, as would have been a substantial number of the soldiers in the brigade.
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.
The follow-up operations in Calabria, although ejecting the French from much of the south of Italy, did not prove a lasting success and British troops had been driven back to Sicily by mid-February 1808. Hamill returned to Malta to recuperate following Maida and his regiment was sent to join British forces garrisoning Sicily in November 1807. Early in September 1808, Hamill - as the senior officer present - and his regiment were sent to reinforce the small garrison of Capri, which had been captured by the British in May 1806. En route, Hamill and his men were part of a small force that attacked the little port of Diamente in Upper Calabria with great success, capturing a convoy of thirty-eight ships and four gunboats: Hamill was mentioned in the senior officer's dispatch and noted for his 'judicious conduct' on that occasion. The Royal Regiment of Malta landed on Capri in mid-September and was sent to garrison Anacapri, at the western end of the island, with Hamill as officer commanding the garrison of Anacapri. On 4th October 1808, a French force attacked Capri, landing on the coast below Anacapri and quickly establishing a foothold despite efforts by the Maltese to dislodge them. Scaling the cliffs, the French entered Anacapri but Hamill's attempts to rally his men in the face of a determined French assault proved useless and he and his aide were killed during the capture of Anacapri by the French, Hamill reportedly refusing to surrender his sword or concede defeat. Having secured Anacapri, the French laid siege to Capri town and had captured the entire island by the 16th October 1808.
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 BRAVELY
RESISTING 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.
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).
Stephen Wood MA FSA.
Note: a longer and more detailed account of the life and military service of John Hamill will appear in a forthcoming number of The Irish Sword, journal of The Military History Society of Ireland.
Another Lloyds Patriotic Fund Vase originally presented to Major General Sir John Stuart also at Calabria, sold Sotheby's London, 11th November 1971, lot 15 (£1,700)