CASED FIELD OFFICER'S SMALL GOLD MEDAL FOR TALAVERA TO MAJOR RICHARD VANDELEUR, 1ST BN. 88TH FOOT

Major Richard Vandeleur was born in Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland in 1773, the son of Crofton Vandeleur of Kilrush, High Sheriff of Clare and M.P. for Ennis, and Alice Vandeleur (nee Burton). His elder brother John Ormsby Vandeleur began his military career in 1791, reaching the rank of Colonel with the 5th Dragoon Guards and commanding a cavalry brigade at the Battle of Waterloo. Commissioned Ensign in the 103rd Foot on 14 Feb 1795 before purchasing a Captaincy in his own Independent Company which took his name, joining the 1st Battalion 88th Foot (Connaught Rangers) as Captain on 23 May 1795.

In the autumn of 1795 the 88th were en route to the French West Indies to take part in Major-General Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedition when a hurricae hit the fleet. One transport ship, in which Vandeleur's division had embarked, survived the storm and was blown back through the Straits of Gibraltar as far as Cartagena, falling to peices upon arrival in Gibraltar. In 1800, the Battalion was tasked to join an expedition led by the Governemtn of India and Major-General Sir David Baird to assist in the Egypt Campaign of 1801, under Abercromby. The 88th formed the van of Sir David Baird's Army, marching at its head of the army for 14 days across the 'Long Desert' from Cossir to Kenna on the Nile. The 88th remained in Egypt for two triumphant years, with Captain Vandeleur receiving 'a medal from the Grand Seigneur...for services in the Indian Army which crossed the Desert to Egypt in 1801'; this apparently a Sultan's Medal for Egypt in gold.

Vandeleur was promoted to Major on 14 Aug 1804. Three years later, the 88th formed part of the invasion force sent to occupy Argentina following the capture of Buenos Aires, arriving in Montevideo on 14 June under Lieutenant-General Whitelocke. The combined force arrived at the village of Reduction on 1 July where it met a determined force of cavalry and infantry, which was repelled and pursued to the city. A counter attack was made upon the picquets held by the 88th, which suffered 20 men killed and wounded. The next morning, Whitelocke marched two wings down the principal streets of the city towards the river with Major Vandeleur commanding the left wing down a street called 'Santa Lucia'. Vandeleur recorded:

"After I got a little way down the street, two of the enemy’s bidettes appears in the front, and as I advanced they retreated down the street, occasionally looking up, as if speaking to people on the tops of the houses. On my arrival, about a third down the street a fire opened on me from the tops of the windows of the houses on each side directly over me. I immediately ordered the column to advance double quick time, which was immediately executed, and answered by our men by cheering. As we advanced through the streets we were continually assailed from the windows, on both sides of the street, with musketry, hand grenades, stink pots, brick bats, and all sorts of combustibles."

Exposed to raking fire from the citadel and artillery fire, Vandeleur's men were surrounded but continued fighting for three hours. Only when 'nearly annihilated and until nearly expending the last ball cartridge that could be found in the puches of dead companions' did they surrender. Lt.-Gen. Whitelocke was court-martialled, Vandeleur returned home to take command of the 1/88th Foot following Colonel Duff's departure in March 1809. Arriving in Lisbon on 13 March it proceeded north as one of the regiments attached to the Portuguese Army under Marshal Beresford, with the aim of expelling Marshal Soult from Oporto, which was subsequently captured. The British forces were then sent onwards into Spain – and the Battle of Talavera took place from 27 to 28 July 1809. On the first day, the 88th was positioned in the wood by the river Alberche, where it received the praise of its brigade commander Colonel Donkin.

Retiring in a line under heavy fire, it covered the retreat of the advanced troops who had quickly become overwhelmed and outnumbered by the enemy. They then took post on a hill to the left of the allied army, ‘the key of the position’, when a strong evening attack was repelled by Donkin’s brigade. At daybreak on the 28 July the fighting resumed, with fearsome exchanges of artillery and musket fire, where the British ‘giving them no respite, pushed them back with terrible carnage’. The fighting raged along the entire front, with the 88th holding their position with great discipline in the face of heavy artillery fire, all the while under the command of Major Vandeleur. The final French attack was finally broken, and all told the 88th suffered six officers and one hundred and thirty N.C.O.s and men killed or wounded. The regiment occupied a nearby town for a time, and it was here that Major Vandeleur succumbed to a severe sickness at Campo Maior, Portugal, on 17 Oct 1809. His obituary as published in newspapers recorded:

"On the 17th of October, at Campo Mayor, Portugal, after a few days illness, Major Richard Vandeleur, of the 88th egiment of foot; an officer greatly and deservedly lamented by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. To a large share of liberal accomplishments, Major Vandeleur added an extensive knowledge of the principles and practice of his profession, joined to an intimate acquaintance with the most useful of the modern languages of Europe, so necessary to form the officer. His loss will be deeply felt, by his relations, who have, besides, to deplore the loss of several others of the family, who died in the service of their country, particularly of his brother, the late Brigadier General Vandeleur who died in the West Indies."