WATERLOO MEDAL

THE IMPORTANT AUSTRALIAN RELATED WATERLOO MEDAL AWARDED TO AN OFFICER OF THE 54TH FOOT WHO WAS WOUNDED WHILST CARRYING THE REGIMENTS COLOURS AT THE BATTLE OF MERXEM, 1813 AND WHO AFTER SERVING AS BIRMINGHAM’S FIRST POLICE COMMISSIONER, IN 1843 BECAME CHIEF POLICE MAGISTRATE OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND WHERE HE EFFECTIVELY DEALT WITH THE BUSHRANGERS AND NUMEROUS OTHER PROBLEMS. LATER HE SERVED AS A MEMBER THE THEN TASMANIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, A POSITION WHERE HE WAS EFFECTIVELY AN AUSTRALIAN MP. FINALLY BECOMING A STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATE AT RICHMOND IN 1859, HE RETIRED 3 YEARS LATER AND DIED AT HIS HOME BELMONT, RICHMOND IN 1864

WATERLOO 1815 ‘LIEUT. FRANCIS BURGESS, 54TH REGIMENT FOOT’.

Francis Burgess was born in Leicester in 1793 and became an Ensign in the Leicester Militia, 31 May 1809 and was advanced to Lieutenant, 5 July 1811. He purchased and Ensigncy in the 54th Regiment of Foot on 4 June 1812 and was present with his battalion during the campaign in the low Counties in early 1813. During the campaign, he took part in the battle of Merxem, near Antwerp, 2 February 1813, where he carried the colours of the Regiment into battle. Here the 54th Foot formed part of the Light Brigade of General Gibbs’s 2nd Division and were heavily engaged, forcing the French back during a charge. They however sustained heavy casualties later in the battle when engaged with a militia battalion. Ensign Burgess was one of those wounded.

https://www.napoleon-series.org/military-info/battles/1814/c_lowcountries1814.html

Promoted Lieutenant (without purchase), 16 December 1813, during the Waterloo campaign, Burgess served as an extra Staff Officer to General Johnston, commander of the 6th Brigade of Lt General Colville’s 4th Division. Only lightly engaged during the battle of Waterloo, Wellington compensated the Division by giving them the duty of storming the fortress of Cambrai on 24 June 1815. Johnson’s Brigade was one of two tasked with the successful storming the fortress, one of the three storming columns being commanded Major Campbell of the 54th.

Placed on Half Pay in 1817, Burgess chose a career in Law, becoming a senior judge before being appointed Birmingham’s first police commissioner in 1839. At the time there was much trouble in Birmingham but Burgess’s three years in charge met with remarkable success, so much so that in 1843, on the recommendation of Sir Robert Peel, he was appointed Chief Police Magistrate of Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania). Based at Hobart:

“If Birmingham had its fair share of criminals, Tasmania was overrun with them, many of them escapees from the merciless penal colonies. The tension between the free settlers and the criminal interlopers made for a highly charged atmosphere, and one in need of a firm hand. Birmingham must have seemed like a kindergarten in comparison. Nevertheless, Burgess brought the same efficient, zero-tolerance policing to Tasmania and made a success of it……………………….

SEE PDF FOR FULL WRITEUP

Burgess’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography:

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/burgess-francis-1853

Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Burgess

Much information can be found on Burgess’s career in Tasmania online.

Condition NVF, contemporary replacement clip and bar suspension, with period but wider ribbon, suspended by a heavy silver buckle. Sold with a small amount of digital research, including obituary and his 1828 record of service which is particularly detailed, with several pages of testimonials from fellow officers (quite hard to read).