88th Regiment Order of Merit 1818, 2nd Class, 11 actions

Silver medal awarded to Daniel Tighe for participation in 11 Peninsular War actions.

The 88th Regiment Order of Merit was established by Colonel John Alexander Wallace to honour the surviving soldiers of the 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) who had fought in the Peninsular War (1808-1814).

Prior to this, only selected men had been honoured by a regimental medal and only officers were eligible for awards that had been generally issued for service in the Peninsular campaign. Moreover, the 88th Regiment had not been present at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and so had missed out on the medal which had been issued to all the men who had taken part in that battle. Wallace was keen to make up for these deficiencies and so on 4 June 1818 he wrote to the Adjutant General with the following request:

'Sir, I have the honour to state that some of the non-commissioned soldiers of the 88th Regiment have served in twelve different general actions, and have been two, three and four times wounded, have been a long time in the Regiment, and have always conducted themselves well in the field and in quarters. I am anxious to bestow upon them some mark of distinction for their good conduct, and an encouragement to them and other in future.

I shall be much obliged if you will obtain His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief's permission for me to give such men medals as a testimony of their merit.'

This request was granted later that month and Wallace arranged for the medals to be produced at the expense of the officers of the regiment. The Order of Merit that resulted had three classes. The first class took the form of a silver Maltese Cross. Soldiers who had been been present in all of the 12 actions listed on the medal were eligible for this award and a total of 70 were issued. The second class was a silver medal. The obverse depicts the figure of Hibernia, seated and holding a laurel wreath with an Irish Harp at her side. The reverse lists the engagements of the campaign in which the recipient was present. It was awarded to all men who had served in from seven to eleven actions and a total of 145 were issued. The third class was similar to the second class, but smaller, and was issued to men who had served in six or less actions. A total of 217 were issued. For both the second and third classes the name of the recipient was inscribed around the rim. All classes are suspended from a clasp bearing the word 'Peninsula' and worn on a ribbon comprising a crimson stripe flanked by blue stripes.