Noonans Mayfair
Lot 403
An interesting Peninsula War medal awarded to Major-General J. C. Victor, who served with the Royal Engineers in the latter part of the Napoleonic war, and afterwards in Canada under Colonel John By on the construction of the Rideau Canal, and in Tasmania as commander of the Royal Engineers and Director of the Public Works Department, where he left a legacy in Hobart of some fine archicture Military General Service 1793-1814, 3 clasps, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse (J. C. Victor, Lieut. R. Engrs.) nearly extremely fine and scarce to this Corps £2,600-£3,000 --- Provenance: Spink, March 1992; Dix Noonan Webb, June 2005. James Conway Victor was born in London on 17 March 1792, and entered the newly created Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a cadet in 1807. He became a Second Lieutenant in 1810, was promoted to First Lieutenant in 1811, and served in the Peninsular war from 1812 to 1814 - including in the battles of Nive, Orthes and Toulouse. He was promoted to Captain in 1821, and on 10 April 1834 married Anne Dashwood, youngest daughter of Alexander Young of Harburn, Midlothian. In 1831 he was stationed at Bytown in Canada working on the Rideau Canal under Colonel John By, and had risen to the rank of Brigade Major by 1837. After five years in that post he sailed from London with his wife and daughter in the Emily. As commander of the Royal Engineers in Tasmania, on arrival in Hobart Town in November 1842 he was immediately appointed to the Board of Public Works, and with W. P. Kay and Major Sydney Cotton he reported on the water supplies of Hobart and Launceston. A year later the departments of public works and of roads and bridges were amalgamated, and Victor was appointed director, at a salary of £300, in addition to his military duties. After some months, Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Eardley-Wilmot reported that the amalgamation was not working well and the two departments were separated. Victor was offered the directorship of public works at £300, but refused because these civil duties interfered with his military service. Soon afterwards he was asked by Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Denison to superintend the building of Franklin's wharf. Again Victor demurred, but Denison insisted and later interfered with professional details of the work. In July 1847 Victor wrote to his superiors in London, claiming that misrepresentations from Hobart had induced the Colonial Office to sanction the building of a wharf which was neither necessary nor likely to pay; most of all he objected to civil authority demanding his obedience. The letter was sent to the Colonial Office where Earl Grey deplored the unpleasant tone of Victor's complaints and his unusual reluctance to co-operate in colonial works. The affair finished amicably, but in December 1848 Victor sold the furniture of his Hampden Road house and left for England in the Calcutta with his wife and daughter. In 1854 he was promoted Major-General and died in Edinburgh on 4 February 1864. Victor's best memorial in Hobart was some fine architecture. He designed and built the gaol at the barracks, the convict hospital in Campbell Street, and the out-buildings and cottages at Government House.
