Tommy and the coincidence

Was having another tidy up today and went through some family history material I had not looked at in a number of years.

I purchased this pewter soldier for my father many years ago and he then started to collect other soldiers as a hobby.

This was a random choice on my part. After my fathers death I started to to do some family history. In a little box was some items my father had left to me. In was a small red note book which contained notes on the life of Thomas Box. This had been narrated by his son to a grandson in the early 1900's. 

Reading the note book I then made the connection between my distant ancestor and this pewter soldier who was a member of the the 57th Regiment of Foot. The story told the tale of my ancestor who had been a Sgt, in the regiment during the Peninsular Wars in the early 1800s.

He fought at Albufera in May 1811. His regiment became known as the "Die Hards" after their Colonel encourage his men to hold their ground and die hard. They took over 400 casualties out of 570 men. He marched through Portugal, Spain and then in to France. He went over to North America and eventually finished his service in Ireland because he could not march any more.

So given the fatalities in battle in 1811 I'm lucky to be around.