Rare medals given to an 11-year-old boy who served at the Battle of Trafalgar and rose to become a Royal Navy Admiral have emerged for sale for £10,000.
George James Perceval quit Harrow school to join HMS Orion in August 1805, just two months before the historic battle at which Admiral Lord Nelson was killed.
The youngster was a "powder monkey" and had the dangerous job of running between decks carrying gunpowder for the cannons at the height of the action.
And George would have played a vital part in Orion forcing the surrender of the 74-gun French ship Intrepide at 5pm on October 21 - just 30 minutes after Nelson had passed away on HMS Victory nearby.
Battle of Trafalgar 'powder monkey' medals go on sale
Medals awarded to 11-year-old George James Perceval, who quit Harrow school to join up just two months before the historic battle
Portrait of George Perceval (L) and his Naval General Service Medal Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
By Agency
11 Mar 2016
The Telegraph
Rare medals given to an 11-year-old boy who served at the Battle of Trafalgar and rose to become a Royal Navy Admiral have emerged for sale for £10,000.
George James Perceval quit Harrow school to join HMS Orion in August 1805, just two months before the historic battle at which Admiral Lord Nelson was killed.
The youngster was a "powder monkey" and had the dangerous job of running between decks carrying gunpowder for the cannons at the height of the action.
And George would have played a vital part in Orion forcing the surrender of the 74-gun French ship Intrepide at 5pm on October 21 - just 30 minutes after Nelson had passed away on HMS Victory nearby.
Despite his seemingly tender age, George's well-connected father, Baron Arden of Warwick, arranged for his son to join the Royal Navy through his friend, Edward Codrington, the captain of HMS Orion.
George Perceval's Naval General Service Medal Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
In the run up to Trafalgar, George wrote letters home to his parents, describing how he hoped to give the French a "good licking" and told how Nelson wanted to have a "good bang at them".
After the battle which resulted in British victory, the youngster wrote he would be home for Christmas dinner if "my head is not knocked of [sic] in any action".
George stayed in the navy and advanced to midshipman and by the time he was 20 he was captain of his own ship, HMS Infernal.
He became an MP in the 1830s before he was promoted to Rear-Admiral, Vice-Admiral and then Admiral in 1863.
During his career he was awarded the Naval General Service Medal with four clasps including one for Trafalgar.
He was also awarded Matthew Boulton's Trafalgar medal, an award a prominent industrialist had made especially for the survivors of the battle many years later at the behest of Queen Victoria.
The silver medal has Nelson's bust on one side and a scene of the battle on the reverse.
The two medals have been passed down through the Perceval family and have now been put up for sale at auctioneers Brightwells of Leominster, Herefordshire, by solicitors acting on behalf of the family estate.
George Perceval's Trafalgar medal which was made by Matthew Boulton Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
Keith Perry, of Brightwells, said: "In those days the Royal Navy pressed young men into it but aged just 11 George Perceval was to young for that.
"He was classed as a naval volunteer. He was allowed to leave school and his father had naval connections which enabled him to negotiate a place for his son on Codrington's ship.
"You just cannot imagine something like that today.
"George was a powder monkey at Trafalgar, running between decks carrying gun powder and messages from the captain.
"Trafalgar medals are usually worth about £8,000. They are not many of them left after 200 years. They were solid silver and so many of them were melted down.
"But the fact George rose through the ranks to become Admiral makes his medals quite unique and we would expect them to make more than that figure."
The other three clasps on the general service medal are for action off the north east coast of Spain in 1809, for the capture of a French privateer in 1812 and for the Battle of Algiers.
Mr Perry added: "The Matthew Boulton medal was introduced in 1848 after Queen Victoria came to the throne. She realised there was no recognition of the naval battles during the Napoleonic period.
George Perceval's Naval General Service Medal Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
"To get a medal you had to still be alive in 1848 when the average life expectancy of a male was about 50."
In 2005 the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, south east London, bought the archive of George's letters that he wrote home.
He succeeded his father and became Baron of Arden and died at his palatial home, Nork House in Banstead, Surrey, in 1874 aged 80.
As well as his two Trafalgar medals, a Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross that were awarded to a relative of George who served with distinction in the First World War are being sold alongside them.
The medals are being sold on March 16.
Battle of Trafalgar 'powder monkey' medals go on sale - Telegraph
George James Perceval quit Harrow school to join HMS Orion in August 1805, just two months before the historic battle at which Admiral Lord Nelson was killed.
The youngster was a "powder monkey" and had the dangerous job of running between decks carrying gunpowder for the cannons at the height of the action.
And George would have played a vital part in Orion forcing the surrender of the 74-gun French ship Intrepide at 5pm on October 21 - just 30 minutes after Nelson had passed away on HMS Victory nearby.
Battle of Trafalgar 'powder monkey' medals go on sale
Medals awarded to 11-year-old George James Perceval, who quit Harrow school to join up just two months before the historic battle
Portrait of George Perceval (L) and his Naval General Service Medal Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
By Agency
11 Mar 2016
The Telegraph
Rare medals given to an 11-year-old boy who served at the Battle of Trafalgar and rose to become a Royal Navy Admiral have emerged for sale for £10,000.
George James Perceval quit Harrow school to join HMS Orion in August 1805, just two months before the historic battle at which Admiral Lord Nelson was killed.
The youngster was a "powder monkey" and had the dangerous job of running between decks carrying gunpowder for the cannons at the height of the action.
And George would have played a vital part in Orion forcing the surrender of the 74-gun French ship Intrepide at 5pm on October 21 - just 30 minutes after Nelson had passed away on HMS Victory nearby.
Despite his seemingly tender age, George's well-connected father, Baron Arden of Warwick, arranged for his son to join the Royal Navy through his friend, Edward Codrington, the captain of HMS Orion.
George Perceval's Naval General Service Medal Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
In the run up to Trafalgar, George wrote letters home to his parents, describing how he hoped to give the French a "good licking" and told how Nelson wanted to have a "good bang at them".
After the battle which resulted in British victory, the youngster wrote he would be home for Christmas dinner if "my head is not knocked of [sic] in any action".
George stayed in the navy and advanced to midshipman and by the time he was 20 he was captain of his own ship, HMS Infernal.
He became an MP in the 1830s before he was promoted to Rear-Admiral, Vice-Admiral and then Admiral in 1863.
During his career he was awarded the Naval General Service Medal with four clasps including one for Trafalgar.
He was also awarded Matthew Boulton's Trafalgar medal, an award a prominent industrialist had made especially for the survivors of the battle many years later at the behest of Queen Victoria.
The silver medal has Nelson's bust on one side and a scene of the battle on the reverse.
The two medals have been passed down through the Perceval family and have now been put up for sale at auctioneers Brightwells of Leominster, Herefordshire, by solicitors acting on behalf of the family estate.
George Perceval's Trafalgar medal which was made by Matthew Boulton Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
Keith Perry, of Brightwells, said: "In those days the Royal Navy pressed young men into it but aged just 11 George Perceval was to young for that.
"He was classed as a naval volunteer. He was allowed to leave school and his father had naval connections which enabled him to negotiate a place for his son on Codrington's ship.
"You just cannot imagine something like that today.
"George was a powder monkey at Trafalgar, running between decks carrying gun powder and messages from the captain.
"Trafalgar medals are usually worth about £8,000. They are not many of them left after 200 years. They were solid silver and so many of them were melted down.
"But the fact George rose through the ranks to become Admiral makes his medals quite unique and we would expect them to make more than that figure."
The other three clasps on the general service medal are for action off the north east coast of Spain in 1809, for the capture of a French privateer in 1812 and for the Battle of Algiers.
Mr Perry added: "The Matthew Boulton medal was introduced in 1848 after Queen Victoria came to the throne. She realised there was no recognition of the naval battles during the Napoleonic period.
George Perceval's Naval General Service Medal Photo: Brightwells/BNPS
"To get a medal you had to still be alive in 1848 when the average life expectancy of a male was about 50."
In 2005 the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, south east London, bought the archive of George's letters that he wrote home.
He succeeded his father and became Baron of Arden and died at his palatial home, Nork House in Banstead, Surrey, in 1874 aged 80.
As well as his two Trafalgar medals, a Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross that were awarded to a relative of George who served with distinction in the First World War are being sold alongside them.
The medals are being sold on March 16.
Battle of Trafalgar 'powder monkey' medals go on sale - Telegraph
Last edited:
