Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Waterloo medal awarded to Lieutenant John Coen, 28th Foot, who was slightly wounded at Vittoria in June 1813 and again wounded at Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815

Waterloo 1815 (Lieut. John Coen, 28th Regiment Foot.) fitted with contemporary replacement hinged silver bar suspender engraved on either side “QUATRE BRAS” and “16th JUNE 1815”, the obverse with contact pitting, otherwise better than good fine, the reverse nearly very fine £3,400-£4,000

On 16 June 1815 at Quatre Bras the 28th in company with the 1st Royal Scots marched to the support of the hard-pressed 42nd and 44th, forming square and standing firm in a tall field of rye while subject to continuous attacks from French cavalry.
Major Llewellyn wrote:
‘The rye in the field was so high, that to see anything beyond our own ranks was almost impossible. The Enemy, even, in attacking our Squares, were obliged to make a daring person desperately ride forwards and plant a flag, as a mark, at the very point of our bayonets. On this they charged, but were invariably repulsed.
It fell to the lot of the 28th to bear a leading share in this Action, and I may say they lost none of their former reputation.
They were frequently hardly pressed, but never lost their discipline and their self-possession.
Once, when threatened on two flanks by what Sir Thomas Picton imagined an overwhelming force, he exclaimed, “28th, remember Egypt.” They cheered and gallantly beat back their assailants, and eventually stood their position.’
Two days later at the Battle of Waterloo the 28th repeatedly displayed both its renowned dash and steadiness when it played a critical part in defeating the first attack of D’Erlon’s French 1st Corps.

Wellington’s controversial Waterloo Despatch, written in the night of the 18-19 June, mentioned only one English Infantry Regiment by name – the 28th:
‘The troops of the 5th Division, and those of the Brunswick corps, were long and severely engaged, and conducted themselves with the utmost gallantry. I must particularly mention the 28th, 42nd, 79th, and 92nd Regiments, and the battalion of Hanoverians.’

John Coen was appointed Ensign in the 28th Foot, from the Sligo Militia, on 7 April 1808, and was promoted Lieutenant on 29 January 1810. He served in the Peninsula with the 1/28th from September 1810 to March 1811, and from July 1811 to the end of the war in April 1814. He was present at Tarifa, Barrosa, Cadiz, Almaraz, the retreat from Burgos, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Garris, Orthes, Aire, and Toulouse, being slightly wounded at the battle of Vittoria on 21 June 1813; also in the campaign of 1815 where he was wounded at the battle of Quatre Bras on 16 July 1815. He was still serving as a Lieutenant in 1827 but appears to have left the regiment before 1830 and did not live to claim a medal for his Peninsula service. The medal is accompanied by an old copy of a cover from Lieutenant Coen, then apparently serving with the regiment at Corfu, dated 2 January 1827, addressed to his wife at ‘Millbrook, St Heliers, Jersey