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Great Britain - 1801

Defeat of the French in Egypt and the Death of Abercrombie

Obverse
Obverse:
Similar to No. 477
Size:
40 mm.
Reverse
Reverse:
Brittania lying weeping before a tomb inscribed WOUNDED / MAR. 21 / DIED MAR. 28 / 1801. Palm tree and pyramids in distance.
Exergue:
FRENCH DEFEATED / MAR. 21 1801

Bramsen:

Bramsen - 142
Mort du général Abercromby
SIR RALPH ABERCROMBIE K. B. Buste à gauche, en uniforme.
Rev: Femme représentant la Grand-Bretagne. elle est couchée tenant son bouclier et la lance, et appuyée sur un canon. Près d'elle, un cippe surmonté d'un urne de laquelle sort une flamme.
Dessous: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL.
On lit sur le cippe: WOUNDED MAR. 21 DIED MAR. 28 1801
A gauche un palmier, et dans le fond, une plaine d'Egypte avec les pyramides et un combat.
Exergue: FRENCH DEFEATED MAR. 21 1801
Médaille, 39 mm. - T. N. 84, 7.

d'Essling:

d'Essling - 922
Bataille d'Alexandrie et mort d'Abercromby.
Buste d'Abercromby de face, la tête tournée à gauche.
R. La GDE Bretagne couchée au pied d'un monument funéraire, pleure la mort d'Abercromby. A g. palmier et combat.
A l'ex: FRENCH DEFEATED MAR. 21 1801
(TN. 84.7 - B. 142) Br. 39 mm.

BHM:

AR, AE, WM 40 by ?
AR RR; AE N; WM R. (This medal is WM)
C.P. 112/37 (note) E.P.M. 1887/249; G. 122/542.
 
Sir Ralph Abercrombie (1734-1801) was educated at Rugby and studied law at Edinburgh and Leipzig. At the age of twenty-two he changed his career and became a cornet in the Third Dragoon Guards. He made rapid progress in the army, serving in five campaigns under the Marquis of Granby. He was elected MP for Clackmannanshire but gave it up because he disapproved of the war that had recently broken out between Britain and America. Abercromby retired from the army in 1783 but retained his commission on half pay. He was recalled in 1793 however, to take command of a brigade of line in Flanders. He went on to command the expedition against the French in the West Indies where he succeeded in capturing St Lucia and Trinidad. His campaign was only a limited success and his greatest achievement was his Egyptian campaign with the subsequent victory at Alexandria. It was in this engagement that Abercromby received wounds in the thigh and chest; the former was to prove fatal a week after the battle.
from British Historical Medals, p. 123, partial note to medal #504