Bosleys Military Auctioneers
Lot 693
Historical General Officer’s Frock Coat of General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate 1st Baronet, GCB, GCVO, GBE, KCMG, DSO, TD A fine example of the 1891 pattern. Double breasted, with eight gilt buttons to each row in front. Blue velvet collar and cuffs. Five rows of ribbons of Orders, including those of the Bath, the RVO, St Michael & St George and the British Empire, and medals, including the DSO and many foreign decorations. Label named to General FR Wingate. Now fitted with shoulder-cords of correct pattern but bearing badges of a Lieutenant General ... Together with a General’s gold lace waist sash with two crimson stripes, a set of gold-laced sword-slings, and a gold/crimson aiguillette. VGC (4 items)General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, Bart. (a cousin of the future Chindit leader, Orde Wingate) was a giant figure in the history of the Sudan, arguably equal there to Kitchener, whom he succeeded as Sirdar (C in C of the Egyptian Army) and as Governor-General of the Sudan (1899-1916). Despite his great and prolonged success, he was to have a devastating clash with higher authority in 1919 while High Commissioner in Egypt. He was hounded out and was denied a peerage. He remained listed as a full General from 1913 until his death in 1953. He had gone from the RA to the Egyptian infantry in 1883 and was ADC to Sir Evelyn Wood in the Gordon Relief Expedition. He was an extremely fluent Arabic speaker. He was Director of Military Intelligence there from 1889 and was present at Omdurman in Sept. 1898, commanding the mopping-up force that defeated the remaining Dervish host. He also accompanied Kitchener to confront the intruding French expedition at Fashoda on 19th Sept. 1898. See other items of Sudan 1898 interest from the same collection consigned to this auction.
