MEDAL PAIR - Waterloo and Military General Service - Lieutenant Robert John Uniacke, 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars. Waterloo Medal, fitted with replaced hinged straight bar suspension; and Military General Service 1793-1814, 1 clasp, 'Orthes', both renamed in Sans Serif lettering to "LIEUT. ROBERT UNIACKE, 7TH REGIMENT HUSSARS".

Sold together with a letter from Major J.S. Sutherland MBE (Queen's Own Hussars Headquarters), 16th February 1965, in which Major Sutherland confirms Uniacke's entitlement for the Waterloo Medal and the General Service Medal with clasp. He fought at Waterloo and in the Peninsular and was stated to have been a 'most gallant officer'.

Private Collection

Lieutenant Uniacke was a member of a famous and wealthy Irish Protestant family who owned the Woodhouse Estate at Stradbally, County, Waterford. Described as a ‘most gallant officer’ in Army records, he was made a cornet on January 25, 1812, Lieutenant on July 15, 1813 and retired from the Army on July 24, 1817. In 1821, he married Lady Mildred Bourke, sister to Robert, 5th Earl of Mayo, with whom he had six children. The couple’s only surviving son and heir, Colonel Robert Bor Uniacke died in 1853, aged 29.

A justice of the peace and deputy lieutenant, Lieutenant Uniacke inherited the estate in 1802 as the eldest son of Colonel Robert Uniacke (1756-1802) and Annette Constantia. He died aged 55 in Clifton, near Bristol in April 1851, where the family had a home. Lieutenant Uniacke’s father was a Member of Parliament for the city of Youghal as well as being a Colonel of Waterford Militia and Surveyor General of the Ordnance. His mother was the daughter of John Beresford, the First Commissioner of the Revenue of Ireland, whose brother, George, was the 1st Marquis of Waterford.

John James Fitzgerald (1797–1825), Lieutenant Uniacke’s younger brother, sailed as chaplain on a convict ship in 1823 to Australia, where he became the chronicler of John Oxley’s geographical expedition in search of the sources of the river later called Brisbane. In 1824, he was appointed surveyor of distilleries as well as Sheriff and Provost Marshal of New South Wales. He died of remittent bilious fever in Sidney in 1825, aged 27. Other members of the Uniacke family also have early connections to Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Uniackes of Woodhouse were staunch Protestants. They built St James’ Church between 1798 and 1802, a school for protestant children just outside the gates of the churchyard and another school for children of both Protestant and Catholic denominations where Lieutenant Uniacke’s sister and daughter both worked as teachers. When the Great Famine hit Ireland, Lieutenant Uniacke crossed religious borders to work closely with Catholic medical doctor, Dr John Coghlan of Kilmacthomas to build a Work House, which he helped finance himself and became a key member of the Board of Guardians. The relationship was said to be quite unusual for the time.