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Ruler:
‘Abd al-Majid (1823-61)
State:
Ottoman Empire
In 1832 the city of Acre, in modern-day Palestine, was seized from Ottoman rule by the Egyptian general Ibrahim Pasha. Ibrahim had been leader of the Ottoman forces fighting Greek rebels in the Greek War of Independence which resulted in the Battle of Navarino, but by 1831 Ottoman distrust of his father, the Vizier Muhammad Ali, and his politics had led to Egypt being in open rebellion against the Turkish sultanate. As part of this Ibrahim was sent to invade Syria, and in 1832 he took the city by siege and went on to defeat two Ottoman armies. He held Syria for six years before the Turkish Porte could face him again, and their immediate defeat led to intervention on the part of the Austrian Empire and Great Britain. On 4 November 1840 their combined Mediterranean squadrons, with assistance from the French, bombarded and retook Acre for the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Mejid I. On 4 November 1840 a combined British, French and Austrian squadron bombarded and retook the city for the Ottoman Empire. Some of the British forces involved in this campaign were awarded this medal by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Mejid in 1843; in 1848 many also received the Naval General Service Medal with the appropriate bar.
This medal bears no name, and it is not known to whom it was awarded or in what capacity he served in the campaign. The fact that it is the silver issue rather than bronze means that the recipient was a Quarter-Deck or Warrant Officer. He may also have been eligible for the NGSM, but the example of this medal in the Watson Collection appears to have gone to a seaman more junior than would have received this piece.
Lester Watson purchased this medal at some point before 1928.
History note: Gift of L. Hoyt Watson; ex Lester Watson Collection, bt before 1928
Given by Lester Watson through Cambridge in America, 2009
Diameter: 29.5 mm
Weight: 18.04 g
Method of acquisition: Given (2009) by Watson, Lester
Production date: AD 1843
Inscription present: Centre, hillfort with flagstaff; five stars above
Inscription present: Sultan's royal cipher with laurel sprays either side
Accession number: CM.1119-2009
Primary reference Number: 141213
Watson Catalogue: 2
Ordering: M-0002
Previous object number: LW.0002
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Coins and Medals
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "St Jean d'Acre Medal" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141213 Accessed: 2024-11-05 03:42:39
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/141213
|title=St Jean d'Acre Medal
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 03:42:39|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-141213
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/cm/cm15/LW_0002_281_29.jpg"
alt="St Jean d'Acre Medal"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">St Jean d'Acre Medal</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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