An Unusual Father & Son Family Grouping of Nine (1860-1920) awarded to two men who both served with great distinction in the Queen's West Surrey Regiment (1st Batt / 2nd Foot) during the China & Boer Wars.



[FATHER] Henry Nicholson.






CHINA MEDAL
(PEKIN 1860)
(TAKU FORTS 1860).
MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDAL (EDVII)

LONG SERVICE GOOD CONDUCT MEDAL (VR)

To:
3121. Colour Sgt Henry NICHOLSON. MSM. 1/2nd Foot. West Surrey Regt
(Only 725 EDVII MSM's Issued)

[BIOGRAPHY]
"Henry Baxter Nicholson was born on 12th April 1839 at 17 William Street, Blackfriars Road, Christchurch, Southwark, Surrey (South London). The son of Robert John Nicholson (a Smith in Blackfriars Road ) and Ann Wardel (née Baxter) the daughter of Henry Baxter (Farmer) . She was a widow when she married Robert on 4th February 1839. Her address was given as 16 Seymour Street, Portman Square, Marylebone, London and his address was 17 William Street as above.

Robert and Ann took the young Henry to Ireland very soon after he was born, as there is no reference to them in the 1841 or 1851 English census. The next reference is of Henry Baxter Nicholson joining the 1st Battalion, 2nd Queens Royal Regiment of Foot on 24th November 1853 in Templemore, Tipperary, Ireland at the age of 14 and 7 months.

On 15th December 1854 he was appointed 'Drummer' having until then been classified as a ‘boy’ or ‘lad’. He remained a Drummer until 1st June 1861 when he was promoted to Corporal. On 1st April 1862 he was promoted to Drum Major. He was promoted to Sergeant on 11th April 1863 and appointed Colour Sergeant on 29th April.
He held this rank until he finished his first engagement of thirteen years. He was immediately re-engaged to complete 21 years service and remained a Colour Sergeant until he left the army on 7th May 1875 at the age of 36 years and one month.

His military record shows that he served for just under a year in South Africa, a year and three months in China and two and a half years in India. The timeline of his regiment and its movements shows that the 1st Battalion was in South Africa from 1851 and in 1852 a draft of replacements for the Battalion and some families were on the troopship HMS Birkenhead when it struck rocks off Cape Town and sank.

There were few survivors and the story has become famous in the annals of the regiment because of the discipline of the soldiers on the sinking ship giving preference to the women and children.

Henry Nicholson having joined the army a year later in 1853 appears to have arrived in South Africa fairly soon afterwards. On 30th July 1860 the Regiment landed at Pei Tang-Ho in China together with the 31st Regiment and a French force to fight and defeat the Chinese in the first Opium War. They sacked and burnt the Emperor’s Summer Palace in Peking after which the Chinese capitulated. Henry received the China medal with two claps for his service in China.

Henry’s regiment returned from China to England and later was sent out to India for two and a half years between 1869 and 1872 after which he returned to Ireland and was discharged in Dublin after eighteen years because he was medically unfit for further service in India.

Henry married Emily Jane Cooper in Alverstoke, Gosport, Hampshire on 28th July 1862. They had eight children.Their first son, William Robert, was born in Portsea in 1863, but died in Ireland in 1876. Emily was born in Queens Town County Cork in 1865, George born in Chatham, Kent in 1869 and Ellen born in Devonport in 1872. After leaving the army in Ireland they had Grace (1874) and Henrietta (1876) both born in Ireland where he took up clerical work. They then moved to England and had settled in Salisbury by 1881 where they had another boy Christopher (1878). Henry became a Maltster's clerk and then an accountant for the Gas Company, a job he held until he retired. He died in Salisbury, Wiltshire on 4th December 1913."



& [SON]William Henry Nicholson.

O.B.E. (Civil) 30.3.1920
''Adjutant, Queen Mary's Convalescent Aux' Mily' Hospital, Roehampton"

M.B.E. (Military) 12.2.1919

QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA
(Tugela Heights)-(Relief of Ladysmith)-(Transvaal)-(Orange Free State)
KING'S SOUTH AFRICA
(South Africa 1901)-(South Africa 1902)
Coronation Medal 1911
Long Service Good Conduct Medal (VR)
To:
Captain & Qtr Master W.H. Nicholson.
Royal West Surrey Regt.

Born in Portsmouth in about 1880. Served in South Africa 1899-1902 and took part in the Relief of Ladysmith including the action at Colenso, 15th December 1899; operations of 17th to 24th January 1900,. and action at SPION COP of 5th to 7th February. Also at the action at Vaal Krantz and on Tugela Heights 14th to 27th February. 1900. In Transvaal 30th November 1901 and in Orange River Colony November 1901 to 31st May 1902.

A seldom seen 'double' OBE (civil) - MBE (military) award.

An excellent and unique family grouping of nine medals spanning the sixty years from 1860 - 1920 to two men who both saw distinguished & decorated service in the Royal West Surrey Regiment.

China medal GVF ...all other medals in both groups are superb EF+ having seldom been worn. Both medal groups come with excellent research papers.

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