The regimentally unique and important ‘West Africa 1898’ D.S.O. group of eleven awarded to Major-General Weir de L. Williams, Hampshire Regiment, a gallant and oft-wounded Channel Islander whose adventurous early career ranged from the North West Frontier of India, through the jungles of West Africa to the South African veldt; during the Great War he landed at Gallipoli from the SS River Clyde and played a prominent role in the bloody fighting at V beach, later holding Brigade and Divisional commands on the battlefields of the Western Front Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (Lieut. W. de L. Williams 1st Hamp: Regt.); East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, 1898 (Capt. W. de L. Williams D.S.O. Royal Niger Constably) renamed; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Paardeberg (Capt. W. de. Le. Williams D.S.O. Hamps Rgt.) official corrections to post-nominal letters and unit; 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col. W. De L. Williams, D.S.O. Hamps R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Maj. Gen. W. De L. Williams); Delhi Durbar 1903, silver; Delhi Durbar 1911, silver; France, Third Republic, Croix de Guerre 1914-15, with palm; Belgium, Kingdom, Croix de Guerre, A.I.R., mounted court-style; together with a contemporary duplicate India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, this with officially re-engraved naming (Lieut. W. de L. Williams, 1st Bn. Hampshire Regt.), light contact marks, otherwise good very fine and better (12) £4,000-£5,000 --- Provenance: Spink, March 1992, when sold with ‘Niger 1897’ clasp on the renamed East and West Africa medal. C.B. (Military) London Gazette 1 January 1921. C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1917: ‘For services rendered in connection with Military Operations in the Field’ D.S.O. London Gazette 30 June 1899:
‘In recognition of services with the Royal Niger Constabulary during the recent operations in the Benin Hinterland, Siama, &c.’ French Legion of Honour London Gazette 21 August 1919. French Croix de Guerre London Gazette 24 February 1916. Roumanian Order of the Crown, Grand Officer London Gazette 20 September 1919. Belgian Order of the Crown and Croix de Guerre London Gazette 24 October 1919. M.I.D. London Gazettes 30 May 1899; 10 September 1901; 5 August 1915; 4 January 1917; 15 May 1917; 11 December 1917; 20 December 1918; and 5 July 1919. Weir de Lancey Williams was born at St Peter Port, Guernsey, on 2 March 1872, son of Lieutenant-General Sir William “Devil” Williams, K.C.B., Royal Artillery. He was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey and the United Services College, from which he entered the Royal Military College in 1889 as a Queen’s Cadet. He was commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment in 1891 and was sent to India to join the 1st Battalion. His first opportunity for active service presented itself in 1897, when he obtained an appointment as Assistant Transport Officer to the Second Division of the Tirah Field Force, formed to quell a series of tribal uprisings on the North West Frontier. One of only a handful of members of his Regiment to participate in these operations, during which he was shot through the foot on 11 December 1897, when Afridi tribesmen attempted to overwhelm the baggage train during a march down the Bara Valley. Shipped back to England to recuperate, he lost little time in arranging his next adventure, and in August 1898 headed to West Africa, on attachment to the forces of the Royal Niger Company. The appointment provided plenty of opportunities for action. As part of its efforts to establish control over the lower Niger, the Company conducted numerous expeditions – 63 in all between 1886 and 1899, when its charter was revoked on establishment of the Northern and Southern Nigerian Colonial Protectorates. Few of them involved more than three or four officers and 200 Royal Niger Constabulary troops, but the casualty returns show the risks to have been real, quite apart from the challenges presented by terrain and climate. In October 1898, quite soon after Captain Williams’ arrival, a particularly serious outbreak of fighting flared up around Asaba, a principal station of the Company, 150 miles up the Niger river. Fugitive chiefs fostered a revolt in opposition to the interference of the Company’s officers with sacrificial customs; the mission at Illah was ransacked and an attack made on the Company’s station. The disaffected district was extensive, requiring the despatch of a column of 400 Company troops, with three Maxims and two seven-pounder field pieces. Several fierce engagements were fought, resulting in casualties of eight killed and 34 wounded on the Company’s side. Williams was among the wounded, having commanded a force of 120 men which left Asaba on 2 November to deliver food and ammunition to the garrison at Isele, about 15 miles away. The narrow paths allowed single file as the only formation in which to move, and led through the thickest of forest, drastically reducing the field of view and rendering superior weapons such as the Maxims of little use. En route they met with some resistance but fought their way through and achieved their objective, with the loss of one man. However, by the time they started their return the following day the enemy had concentrated from surrounding districts and they faced some quite desperate fighting. Three miles from a town named Uburu Kiti they found the path blocked and were compelled to cut their way through the bush, under continuous attack. By the time they reached the town eight men had been wounded and ammunition was running short; here they met a strong party of the enemy defending a row of houses. The more open ground allowed the Maxim to be brought into action, but two gunners were killed in doing so, and the gun jammed after half a dozen shots. So, with 50 men, Williams charged the houses and cleared the enemy out. By the end of the day four men had been killed and 29 wounded, Captain Williams being shot in the side. Out of ammunition, and with the prospect of further fighting before reaching Asaba, the column made camp and a runner was sent ahead to ask for assistance. The relief found them after a four-hour march, very ragged, tired and blood-stained from their five-day ordeal. In June 1899 Captain Williams succeeded as commandant of the Royal Niger Company’s troops, in place of Captain H. W. E. Parker, South Wales Borderers, recently killed attempting to impose order in another remote and troublesome part of the territory. It fell to Williams to avenge his brother officer’s death, in leading a punitive expedition of 150 Hausa troops against the Suntai. This band were based about 50 miles south-east of Ibi, on the upper part of the Benue River (a tributary of the Niger), and had for some time been raiding their neighbours, who had appealed to the Company for protection. Marching from Ibi, Williams’ force attacked the town of Suntai, which put up a most determined fight. The town wall was found to be quite unclimbable, and where it was breached the defenders attempted repairs under fire in a very daring manner. The final assault through this breach cost the Company troops five men killed and 25 wounded; when the town fell and the captured chief was brought before him, Williams is said to have expressed his admiration of the plucky defence. Williams’ time with the Royal Niger Constabulary ended in September 1899 on his return to regimental duty, taking with him a D.S.O. in recognition of his services (presented to him by the Queen at Windsor, on 30th November 1899). He...
