Turkish Crimean War Medal 1855, awarded to Captain Audley Lemprière, 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment

Audley Lemprière was commissioned ensign in the 77th (The East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot on 10 December 1852 and promoted lieutenant on 11 June 1854. The casualty rate among officers in the Crimea meant that by the tender age of twenty, shortly before his death during the attack on the Russian rifle pits on 19 April 1855, he had already been promoted captain. His memorial tablet in Newton-Valence Church near Alton states that 'He enjoyed in a remarkable degree the confidence of those above him in command, and the esteem and affection of his brother officers and men; and, from the excellence and amiability of his character, his loss is deeply lamented by all who knew him.'.

It had been the intention of the Turkish Sultan to award all survivors of the Crimean Army with a silver medal, which he instituted in 1855. Approximately 75,000 medals were claimed by Britain. However not all these reached their destination, owing to a shortfall in production and the loss of a consignment of some 22,000 medals when the SS 'Pomona' sank near Malta on 22 February 1860. The shortage in British medals was made up to a great extent by issuing British soldiers with Sardinian or French versions.