74th Regiment of Foot (Later 2nd Battalion The Highland Light Infantry) Other Ranks Pewter Opened Back Button

In excavated condition missing shank, circa 21.5mm in diameter. Some crud stuck to reverse so unable to see whether there were any maker marks. Some loss of detail and definition to front but the crown, elephant, numeral '74' and battle honour 'Assaye' still very much discernable. Apparently recovered from the wreak of HMS Birkinhead.

A memorial in St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, bears the following inscription:

In memory of Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Seton, Ensign Alex. C. Russell, and forty-eight N.C.O.s and men of the 74th Highlanders who were drowned at the wreck of H.M.S. 'Birkenhead' on the 26th February 1852, off Point Danger, Cape of Good Hope, after all the women and children on board had been safely landed in the ship's boats.

Frederick William IV of Prussia was so impressed by the bravery and discipline of the soldiers that he ordered an account of the incident to be read at the head of every regiment in his army. Queen Victoria ordered the erection of an official Birkenhead monument at the Chelsea Royal Hospital. In 1892, Thomas M. M. Hemy painted a widely admired maritime depiction of the incident, "The wreck of the Birkenhead"

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Code: 62452