[ British Campaign Medals ] Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann and Sebastopol, engraved in upright serif capitals Captn. F.H.

[ British Campaign Medals ] Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann and Sebastopol, engraved in upright serif capitals Captn. F.H. Ramsden Coldsm .Gds., fitted with a laurel wreath riband bar by Bailey of Coventry, slight marks from past cleaning, good very fine E800-1000 CAPTAIN FREDERICK HENRY RAMSDEN was the eldest son of Henry James Ramsden, third son of Sir John Ramsden, 4th Baronet, of Oxton Hall, Yorkshire. Born in 1830, he purchased a commission in the Rifle Brigade as 2nd Lieutenant on 14 July 1847, transferring to the Coldstream Guards as an Ensign on 11 January 1851. On 22 February 1854 the battalion embarked for Malta aboard the steamship Orinoco, arriving the following month. On 28 June Ramsden was appointed Lieutenant and Captain and around the same time embarked on H.M.S. Vulcan for Aladyn. Posted to No. 1 Company with Captains Jolliffe and Baring, he arrived at the Old Fort (about thirty miles north of Balaklava) in the middle of September, and participated in the Battles of Alma and Balaklava. On the morning of 5 November Captain Ramsden was mortally wounded at the Battle of Inkermann. Following heavy rain the previous day the area was very misty and, with visibility only a few yards in places, the losses were heavy on both sides. An account of his death was given by Sergeant Wilden, also of No. 1 Company. "...Suddenly the alarm came, 'fall in,' every man rushed for his rifle and ammunition; the order was so sudden many had not turned out, and several took their places in the ranks only partly dressed; poor Captain Ramsden was killed in his brown shooting-suit... " Of the 2,357 casualties of all ranks suffered by the British, 84 were officers and men of the Coldstream Guards. Seven of the officers were laid to rest in one grave in a rocky ravine near the windmill. During the winter of 1855 the bodies were exhumed and re-interred on a site selected on Cathcart's Hill. His family placed a memorial in the Guards' Chapel, London (which was to be destroyed by German action in June 1944), and he was also commemorated on panel IX of the main memorial. Sold with a considerable amount of photocopied documents, also including a photograph of the grave at Cathcart's Hill.