Orders, Decorations & Medals - Other Properties - Bri

Lot 3644    SESSION 13 (2.30PM THURSDAY 2ND APRIL)    Orders, Decorations & Medals - Other Properties - Briti

Estimate $8,500
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $9,000

MILITARY GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL 1793-1814, - two clasps - Busaco, Fuentes D'Onor, with ribbon buckle bar. Serjt C.Echlin, 5th Foot. Impressed. A few small edge nicks and contact marks, hairlines, otherwise nicely toned good very fine.

One of the earliest residents of the Illawarra region of the Colony of New South Wales - Christopher Echlin was conceived at New York in the closing stages of the American Revolutionary War and was born in 1783 at Falmouth, New England in America. His mother Catherine was most likely the widow or daughter of a soldier and his father Thomas, a Quartermaster Sergeant with the 17th Foot Regiment, had been taken prisoner once and narrowly escaped capture a second time at Yorktown after being wounded in the hand and foot.

After the war the family returned to England and in 1792-3 Christopher enlisted in the Wexford Militia as a 9-year old Drummer Boy. His father was already serving in this unit and Christopher's brother Thomas joined a year later. In May-September 1798 he served in putting down The Irish Rebellion, possibly participating with his unit in the Battle of Vinegar Hill and the Battle of Goresbridge in June 1798.

On 9 September 1805 he enlisted in the 2/5th Regiment of Foot and on 24 January 1808 was promoted to Corporal. In 1809 his son William Leahy Echlin was born. He later became a noted surgeon and explorer joining the famous Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk on his expedition to Guiana. On 2 January 1810 Corporal Christopher Echlin arrived on the Peninsular and served in the following battles: - 27 September 1810, Battle of Busaco; and in 1811, 12 March, Battle of Redinha; 3 to 5 May, Battle of Fuentes D'Onoro; 19 May to 10 June, Second Siege of Badajoz; and 25 September, Battle of El Bodon. On 7 December 1811 he was sent to England but returned to Spain in 1812 and was posted as wounded. On 9 December 1812 he rejoined his regiment at the rank of Sergeant. He returned to England in March 1813.

On 6 May 1815 he marched from Windsor to Portsmouth as a Sergeant volunteer. Then on 13 July 1815 he deserted at Portsmouth whilst waiting for passage to St Vincent and on 25 July 1815 the Adjutant-General instructed that he be sent with other deserters on board the prison ship at the Isle of Wight where it was conceived that they could be kept in better security than at Fort Cumberland, and until an opportunity arose for their being embarked for foreign service. In that same month of July 1815 Ecklin was transferred to a penal regiment, the York Chasseurs, and sentenced to unlimited overseas military service. On 5 November 1815 he arrived in the West Indies at the rank of Corporal, on 2 January 1816 he was promoted to Sergeant and on 24 February was transferred to the Bourbon Regiment at the rank of Colour Sergeant.

On 14-16 April 1816 he took an active part in the bloody suppression of 'Bussa's Slave Rebellion' in Barbados and on 25 April was transferred to the 1st West India Regiment at the rank of Colour Sergeant. On 17-18 August 1816 he was reduced in rank for 'unsoldierlike conduct and irregularities'. He was transferred to the 25th Regiment of Foot on 22 August 1816 and on 25 June 1817 he left the West Indies with his regiment. In November 1817 Echlin was employed on 'Recruiting duties within the Huntington District'. On 24 September 1819 he qualified for 14 years service additional pay and shortly after on 12 October he deserted. He then joined the 5th Regiment of Foot but on 15 February 1820 he was arrested by civilian police and spent one month in Exeter City Prison for desertion. He was released on 19 March and was later posted to the West Indies as a reinforcement. On 18 December 1820 he joined the 4th Regiment of Foot at Barbados from the 5th Regiment of Foot as a 'Foreign Service Man'.

During his time in Barbados he deserted on 31 October 1822 living in abandoned plantations with other deserters, frequently moving on to avoid the authorities. He finally returned to his regiment in March 1824. He appears to have deserted a second time although no details are available. It is hardly surprising that on 13 April 1825 Christopher Echlin was discharged at Antigua from the 4th Regiment of Foot and file noted as:- Character - bad, chronic dysentery and worn out by hard drinking - he had also deserted twice with the regiment. He was returned to England and arrived at Chatham on 21 July 1825. Then on 13 April 1826 he and Emily Du Bois, who was born in Switzerland, were married in London. About two weeks later on 25 April 1826 he enlisted for service in the New South Wales Veterans Company and on 8 May he, along with his wife, left England on the ship Orpheus with 213 men, women and children and arrived at New South Wales on 13 September 1826.

Christopher Echlin was appointed Constable and clerk to the Illawara court but in January 1827 a letter from Lieutenant J.Fitzgerald commanding 39th Regiment stated in part, 'the clerk and constable Christopher Echland (sic) of the Royal Veterans is by no means qualified for the situation I am confident he will be very useful as a constable.' Lieutenant Fitzgerald's letter was acted upon and Echlin was removed from his position but remained a Constable. While in Illawarra, Echlin held the positions of Chief Constable and also Constable in charge of the Illawarra Stockade. In another letter to the Colonial Secretary Lieutenant Fitzgerald requested that Echlin be allowed to build a house at the Boat Harbour Wollongong where he was stationed with a small allotment of ground attached to it. In December 1828 it was decided to grant him half-an-acre to the southward of Boat Harbour with the precise spot to be reported to the Surveyor General. In 1828 Constable Echlin attested before a Justice of the Peace at Kiama regarding his involvement in the arrest of bushranger John Notley at Long Brush in Illawarra. He made the arrest along with three others but unfortunately he misled authorities and twice claimed the reward for the arrest. Also in February 1828 Echlin was convicted of trafficking at Boat Harbour

In March 1829 Echlin wrote a very long and detailed letter (copy in research included with lot) to The Australian newspaper regarding his and his fellow soldiers difficulties in protecting the Illawarra residents from bushrangers and in his letter he was critical of the ability of a newly appointed young magistrate for the District to deal adequately with offenders due to his inexperience. The new magistrate, only about 20 years old and with less than a year in the colony, was the new Commanding Officer of 39th Regiment. Echlin was discharged from the NSW Veterans Company on 24 September 1829 with character noted as Good.

There was a considerable volume of correspondence between Governor Darling and the Commanding Officer of 39th Regiment concerning Christopher Echlin (see copies in research included with lot), firstly in relation to his duties, but particularly regarding his grant of land at Boat Harbour. Unfortunately, this never eventuated despite repeated requests for it to be finalised and eventually it was cancelled in 1838. He was however given a large land grant at Dapto as a member of the Veterans Company and in 1832 it was reported that 11 acres of this property was in cultivation. On 13 November 1838 Christopher and Emily Echlin purchased two allotments of land on the corner of Burelli and Kembla Street with a frontage on Burelli and a frontage on Stewart Street. The cost was one hundred pounds and they resided on Burelli Street until Christopher's death in 1865 and Emily's in 1870. There was one period of absence for Christopher when he was imprisoned for one year in Darlinghurst Gaol being released on 30 April 1854. Details of his crime are unknown.

In the 1880s the Echlin's timber cottage was replaced with a stone cottage. The site was redeveloped in the 1960s as Civic Place and then in 2018 it underwent demolition to make way for the construction of a new $22 million IMB bank building.

Christopher had been declared dead by his father whilst he was serving in the Peninsula War and also by his soon-to-be wife whilst he was on service in the West Indies, both obviously incorrect. It was however recorded correctly in the Illawarra Mercury on 30 May 1865 that Mr Christopher Echlin, a resident of the district during the last 36 years had died on Friday last at his residence in Burelli Street. Reference was made to his military service in the Peninsular War and his funeral took place at the Church of England burial ground where there could not have been less then four or five hundred persons present to witness the ceremony. Being a Freemason and having made a request to be buried with Masonic honors, the members of the fraternity, resident in the district, accompanied his remains to the grave. The burial service was read by the Rev. T.O.Ewing, after which the Masonic service was repeated by Mr. E.H.King, the Worshipful Master of the Illawarra Lodge of Unanimity and Concord (Lodge No.903) and the members then returned to the Lodge room. That night the greater portion of them visited St Michaels Church where the Rev. T.O.Ewing preached an eloquent sermon.

Thus brought to a close the interesting life of a soldier with a chequered career that included overseas service, and a person who spent almost half of his life in Australia, a few of these in pursuit of bushrangers.

With 45 typed pages of research.