The unique 'Aden operations 1903-04' D.C.M. awarded to Lance-Corporal, later Company...

The unique ‘Aden operations 1903-04’ D.C.M. awarded to Lance-Corporal, later Company Quartermaster Sergeant, C. E. Dicker, Hampshire Regiment, who was subsequently wounded at Gallipoli in June 1915 Distinguished Conduct Medal, E.VII.R. (4715. Lce. Corpl. C. E. Dicker, 1st. Bn. Hamps. Regt.) officially engraved in running script, cleaned, nearly very fine, and a scarce instance of a gallantry award being awarded for an action where there was no corresponding campaign medal £1,200-£1,600 --- Five gallantry awards were awarded for services during the operations in connection with the protection of the Aden Boundary Commission, 1903-4: Four Distinguished Service Orders; and a single Distinguished Conduct Medal (to Dicker). D.C.M. London Gazette 14 April 1905: ‘In recognition of his gallant conduct during the operations in connection with the protection of the Aden Boundary Commission, 1903-4.’ Charles Edwin Dicker was born in Fareham, Hampshire, in 1875 and attested for the Hampshire Regiment at Winchester on 8 November 1895. He served with the 1st Battalion in India from 25 February 1898 to 13 January 1903, before proceeding to Aden in January 1903. The Hampshire Regiment in Aden 1903-04 ‘Britain first occupied Aden in 1839 and over the following decades extended its authority over the coastal tribes from Sheik Saad at the entrance to the Red Sea eastwards. Turkish influence also extended into Southern Arabia, and in 1872 the Turks occupied the Yemen, bringing them to the ill-defined border of the British sphere of influence. In an attempt to regularise the situation an Anglo-Turkish Boundary Commission was set up in 1902, but made little progress. The Turks then occupied Jalela and other villages on the British side of the boundary while, at the same time, tribesmen in the Aden hinterland became increasingly turbulent, intercepting mail and generally causing trouble. To counter these threats, three companies of the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment under Major Lewis Munro were sent from India to Aden in January 1903. Headquarters and two further companies followed at the end of the month. By early February all five companies had been dispatched 70 miles inland from the port of Aden to Dtahala, the major town in the disputed area. As the British advanced the Turks withdrew into their own territory, and for a time it seemed no fighting would occur. Two Hampshire companies were sent to occupy Darrakan, west of Dthala, but the place proved to be rife with malaria and several men died before the units withdrew. Meanwhile, Arab unrest intensified, fuelled by a dislike of foreign troops on their soil. Tribesmen raided small convoys and sniped at the army camps, prompting the British to instigate punitive operations. These took the form of small columns sent out to destroy the offending Arab villages and to exact retribution. However, the columns found themselves operating in desolate country with little water and the Hampshire men were relieved when most moved back to Aden in May 1903. Aden, too, proved intolerably hot and officers who kept ponies had to pay for their water. Meanwhile, men who chose to bathe to keep cool had to beware of sharks. Those troops that remained in the Aden hinterland were occupied mainly in building roads and escorting surveying parties. However, they were also involved in further fierce skirmishes with Arab tribesmen which inevitably led to more punitive expeditions. The most serious fighting, against the particularly troublesome Kotaibis, took place in October 1903. A 1,500-strong Kotaibi force attacked a British post at Sulaiq, held by a small party of some British Indian soldiers. Two companies of the 1st Hampshire plus the headquarters were on their way from Aden to Dthala when the attack on Sulaiq took place and 100 men under Captain Arthur Beckwith were detached to join the relief column. This force successfully dislodged the Kotaibis around Sulaiq. Beckwith’s party, brought up to 250 rifles by the arrival of another detachment under Lieutenant Peter Connellan, then joined a mobile column which pursued the Kotaibis into the hills, capturing the village of Kariati in a night attack on 2nd November. The column then spent several days in punitive operations, mainly blowing up towers, and over the following week inflicted a series of defeats on the Kotaibis. Several more villages were destroyed, but the Kotaibis, by now wary of engaging the British at close quarters, confined themselves to long distance sniping. Battalion headquarters remained at Dthala until the end of December when it shifted to El Mileh and from there in January to Musemir, a fever-stricken village of mud huts in Wadi Tiba. Malaria was rife and, despite daily doses of quinine, nearly everyone there contracted the disease. By the time the Hampshires returned to the coast again in February malaria had cost the battalion 30 men. In May 1904, when the battalion was medically inspected and the Medical Officer walked between the ranks and fell out men suffering from malaria, many were actually shaking with it as they stood. So it was without regret when, on 29 May 1904, the battalion’s five companies, ten officers and 424 other ranks left Aden for home.’ (The 1st Hampshire in Aden and Somaliland, 1903, Royal Hampshire Regiment refers). Appointed Lance-Corporal on 29 February 1904, for his services in Aden Dicker was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Promoted Corporal on 23 February 1907, he saw further service with the 2nd Battalion overseas in South Africa from 31 December 1908 to 6 December 1911; in Mauritius from 7 December 1911 to 6 December 1913; and in India from 7 December 1913 to 23 December 1914. Promoted Sergeant on 10 December 1910, he was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with gratuity per Army Order 99 of 1914. Appointed Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 4 May 1915, Dicker served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War in Gallipoli from the first day of the Gallipoli campaign, 25 April 1915, and was wounded by a gun shot wound to the left thigh at Gallipoli on 19 June 1915. Further suffering shell shock at Gallipoli on 8 January 1916, he was hospitalised and, having returned home on 22 February 1916, was posted to the 3rd Battalion as Company Quartermaster Sergeant on 31 March 1916. He was discharged, no longer physically fit for war service, on 21 November 1917, after 22 years and 14 days’ service, and was awarded a Silver War Badge, no. 271977. Sold with copied service papers and other research.