Three: Captain C. E. E. Sullivan, Uganda Intelligence Department, and Assistant District Commissioner during the Lamogi Rebellion, 1911-12, and the Kigezi Operations, 1914-16. During the latter, accompanied by only 20 policemen, Sullivan repeatedly saw off an invading force of approximately 1,200 tribesmen, who had crossed over the border from German East Africa 1914-15 Star (Lieut. C. E. E. Sullivan. Uganda I.D.); British War and Victory Medals (T. Capt. C. E. E. Sullivan.) generally very fine, rare to unit (3) £300-£400 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2015. Charles Eric Eugene Sullivan was born in Plymouth, Devon in 1883. He was appointed Assistant District Commissioner, Uganda Protectorate in November 1909. Sullivan briefly served in this capacity in Kampala, before transferring to Hoima in May 1910. After this he was appointed Assistant District Commissioner for Gulu and Kigezi, and was in situ during The Lamogi Rebellion of 1911-12, and the Kigezi Operations of 1914-16. Both of which are extensively covered in The Uganda Journal, frequently featuring Sullivan and his part: ‘In February 1911 the Lamogi declared themselves openly defiant to Government orders, and in July 1911 they refused to comply with the order then issued for the registration of firearms, of which they had a good number. “We will not be disarmed. If any man wants to disarm us, he must first take our lives before he does that”. Mr Sullivan, the then Assistant District Commissioner at Gulu, visited Lamogi in September 1911. Mr Sullivan tried to effect the registration. He failed, was fired at and returned fire but was unable to take the necessary action to round up these people. Between September and the end of the year the Lamogi were determined on their intention to fight if need be. They held war dances in the various villages, fortified the Guruguru Hills and stocked them with food. On 26 December 1911, the A.D.C. at Gulu wrote the following letter to the District Commissioner, Nile, at Nimule: “The people of Guruguru have again stated that they refuse to bring in their guns, and that all the Lamogi wish to fight. I trust that you will be able to arrange to tackle these people during the coming full moon, say January 8. This infection appears to be spreading through southern portion of this district. I can only raise 25 police here. Can you arrange for 40 to come from Nimule and the Wadelai Patrol to meet me on my way through the Madi country?” Following Mr Sullivan’s visit in September, the unrest among the Lamogi was working itself to a climax. However, the time most propitious for the government had come and in January and February 1912 the long waited preparation was ready. It was the dry season and the weather was most auspicious for dealing with the Lamogi. On January 17 Mr Sullivan and the Gulu police arrived at Guruguru. An attempt was made to parlay and reason with the Lamogi people, but without any success. On the 18th Mr Sullivan moved back for about three hours in the hope of getting in touch with the Rwot Onung of Lamogi. Onung, however, declined to co-operate with him. Mr Sullivan was fired at by the chief’s men, but he acted very quickly with his police. He tried to round up the chief and counsellors and make an arrest, but he failed. The chief and all his men escaped. Mr Sullivan then set the chief’s village on fire for all his pains. On 29 February 1912 the people managed to prevail on Onung and he finally gave up and asked for peace. Between 29 February and 1 March 1,070 prisoners were taken including 413 fighting men, also 79 guns and 200 bows and arrows. Police casualties amounted to two killed and eight wounded, and eight porters wounded. The official figure stated that the Lamogi lost 91 killed in action.’ In August 1914, Sullivan was made a temporary captain and district intelligence officer in the Uganda Intelligence Department: ‘At the beginning of the war in 1914, the duty of keeping open communications between ourselves and the Belgians in the Congo fell on the police stationed in Kigezi. The Assistant District Commissioner in charge of Kigezi, C. E. E. Sullivan showed resource and courage in confronting the unrest with the help of such police as were available. On the morning of 10 October whilst Lieutenant Sullivan was talking to some natives pointing out that their attitude in following him from hill to hill, blowing horns and shouting abuse, could hardly be expected from a friendly people, and demanding an explanation for this act, an arrow was fired at him from close by. At the same time a Mututsi on a hill top shouted out, “This is now German territory, and Nyindo will fight”. This was the signal for blasts on war horns, and some hundreds of natives rushed forward firing arrows; as Lieutenant Sullivan had only six police with him he withdrew, keeping the attackers at 200 yards distance, shooting at anyone who came nearer. On reaching the plain an ugly rush forward was made, and as the arrows were coming thick, he fired two volleys, this enabled him to get away, though the Batwa hung about on his flank shooting arrows. While this was in progress large bodies of natives between 1,000 and 1,500 strong crossed from Mulera, German East African, and came close to Kigezi, but on seeing the hill occupied, withdrew to Nyindo’s boma. Lieutenant Sullivan estimates that he was attacked by at least 300 men. On 11th at about 6am these raiders from German East Africa over 1,200 strong, advanced towards Kigezi in several columns and began setting fire to Musakamba’s village below Kigezi, about 1,500 yards from the camp, where they killed three people and wounded others. The war cry seemed to be Nyindo and the Germans against Musakamba and the English. Lieutenant Sullivan accompanied by Mr Harmsworth and 20 police descended the hill, first clearing the Kigezi plain of raiders who were all driven towards the Batwa returning again and again to attack, firing arrows from every bit of cover; as large reinforcements came up to assist the attackers. Lieutenant Sullivan ordered volleys at 200 yards after which they retired over the border. Owing to instructions Lieutenant Sullivan was unable to follow them. These raiders had literally to be forced back, it took over three hours to drive them across the frontier. Had Lieutenant Sullivan not been at Kigezi, our loyal natives would have been slaughtered, all their food burnt and stock captured.’ (Ibid) Sullivan was appointed Provincial Commissioner in 1928, and retired two years later. He died in Tangiers in December 1951. Sold with copied research.
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Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp (Mr. M. S. Kerruish. “Principia.”) slight scratch to reverse field, nearly extremely fine £360-£440 --- Only Masters of Transports received the 1882 medal, making them unique to each of the 105 vessels employed. The S.S. Principia was owned and launched by Newton Brothers of Burton on Trent & Hull, in November 1881. Captain M. S. Kerruish was his first master. The following is given in The Hull Packet, 29 September 1882: ‘Services of a Hull Contingent in Egypt. Messrs Newton Brothers and Company steamship owners of 19 Billiter Street, London and Hull, send the following copy of a letter, dated Ismalia, 4th inst, and received by them from Captain Kerruish, of their steamer Principia, Indian troop transport, No. 27: “we arrived from Bombay 1st inst. Without a single casualty to men or horses, and at seven o’clock the following morning disembarked at Ismalia 16 Officers, 500 Indian troops, and 187 horses, having still on board 600 tons commissariat stores. On the 2nd inst. I received an order from General Macpherson to deliver on the Sweet Water canal our steam launch and three cutters, with officers, engineer and crews. Within four hours of having received that order, we had all alongside the wharf, and I saw them taken over the land and launched in the Sweet Water Canal. This contingent from the Principia is manned entirely from our own crew, all properly armed and provisioned for three weeks. I naturally wished to take command, but the Admiral considered I ought not to leave my ship, and appointed a naval officer in charge. The men I selected were all anxious to go to the front. In fact, all the ship’s company wanted to join the expedition. Our little flotilla has done really splendid service; yesterday towing up 19 boats laden with provisions, and bringing back despatches and sick men. Tomorrow they make another journey, and will no doubt be ordered to Cairo as soon as Arabi is settled with, which I do not think will taker long after he meets our troops. Out of the hundred and twenty transports here, we are the only ship that has the honour of supplying boats and armed crews for service on the Sweet Water Canal. This canal is but thirty feet wide and about three feet deep. The danger to be apprehended is from parties of these wandering Bedouins suddenly appearing where the banks of the canal are high, and then firing on our boats crews, but I am certain our men will give a good account of themselves if called upon....’ Sold with copied research.
China 1842, 2 clasps, Canton 1857, Taku Forts 1860 (*** George Welsh, H.M.S. Hyacinth. ****) original suspension replaced with the 2nd China War suspension to accommodate the additional clasps (to which the recipient is not entitled), edge bruise, very fine --- The recipient’s participation in the Second China War is unconfirmed, and he does not appear on the latest published transcript of the Medal roll. As the recipient of a First China War Medal, the recipient would additionally have been entitled to the ‘China 1842’ clasp had he also served in the Second China War.
A post-war C.B.E. and Great War M.C. group of seven awarded to the Right Reverend F. O. Thorne, Bishop of Nyasaland The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, complete with neck cravat in its Garrard & Co. Ltd. fitted case of issue; Military Cross, G.V.R.; 1914-15 Star (Capt: & Adjt: F. O. Thorne. Manch: R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. F. O. Thorne.); Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953, the last six mounted as worn, good very fine (7) £1,000-£1,400 --- C.B.E. London Gazette 13 June 1957 (Birthday Honours List). M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918: ‘Captain, Manchester Regiment’. Frank Oswald Thorne was born on 21 May 1892, and educated at St Paul’s School and Christ Church, Oxford (Scholar), 2nd Class Hon. Mods., 1913; B.A. (War Degree), 1918; 2nd Class Theology, 1921; M.A. 1935. Served during the Great War with the 13th (Service) Battalion, Manchester Regiment, captain & adjutant, 1915-17; brigade major, No. 1 Section Tyne Garrison, 1918-19 (wounded, M.C.). Ordained in 1922, he was curate of All Souls’, Clapton Park, 1922-25; joined Universities Mission to Central Africa, 1925; first warden of S. Cyprian’s Theological College, Tunduru, Diocese of Masasi, Tanganyika Territory, 1930-34; vicar-general, Diocese of Masasi, 1934-35; Bishop of Nyasaland, 1936-61, and served as Dean of Province of Central Africa, 1955-61; D.D. Lambeth, 1958. The Ry. Rev. Thorne, C.B.E., M.C., died on 18 September 1981.
Pair: Private M. F. Minton, Gloucestershire Regiment Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (22415934 Pte. M. Minton. Glosters.) first four digits of number officially corrected; U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued, extremely fine (2) £300-£400 --- Maurice Frederick Minton was born on 9 June 1932, at Westbury on Trym, Bristol. He was called up for his National Service in September 1950 and saw service in Korea, almost certainly as part of a reinforcement draft after the Imjin River engagement, returning home to Southampton aboard the troopship Empire Fowey on 20 December 1951. Married in 1953, the couple continued to live in Bristol. Sold with copied research and birth certificate
Pair: Master At Arms J. Bond, Royal Navy, who was killed on 6 August 1914, when H.M.S. Amphion struck a mine off the Thames Estuary and sank with the loss of 132 men killed; she was the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the Great War Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1902-04 (J. Bond, P.O. 1Cl, H.M.S. Highflighr.); British War Medal 1914-20 (173919 J. Bond. M.A.A. R.N.) nearly extremely fine (2) £140-£180 --- John Bond was born on 2 April 1877 in Plymouth, Devon. He attested for the Royal Navy as a Boy on 5 June 1893. Advanced Petty Officer Second Class on 8 August 1901, he served in H.M.S. Highflyer during operations off the coast of Africa during the Somaliland 1902-04 campaign. He later joined the battleship H.M.S. New Zealand on 26th January 1910, where he was awarded his LSGC before his return to Devonport on 1 August 1911. Advanced Master At Arms, he joined the newly commissioned scout cruiser H.M.S. Amphion on 2 April 1913. By the start of the War Amphion was leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, assigned to the Harwich Force, defending the eastern approaches to the English Channel, under the command of Captain Cecil H. Fox. In the morning of 5 August, Amphion and the 3rd Flotilla sortied into the North Sea to patrol the area between Harwich and the Dutch island of Terschelling for German activity. At 10:15 a ship in the black, buff, and yellow colours of the Great Eastern Railway's steamers that plied between Harwich and the Hook of Holland was spotted. Fox sent the destroyers H.M.S. Lance and H.M.S. Landrail to investigate and shortly afterwards another destroyer reported that a trawler had seen a suspicious ship, ‘throwing things overboard, presumably mines’. H.M.S. Amphion led the flotilla to investigate and observed that the fleeing ship was deploying mines even then. At 10:45, Lance opened fire at a range of 4,400 yards (4,000 m). The target was S.M.S. Königin Luise, a former Hamburg-Heligoland excursion boat that had been converted to an auxiliary minelayer by the Germans. They had planned to mount a pair of 8.8-centimetre (3.5 in) guns on board, but they did not have the time to do so; her only armament was a pair of lighter guns and 180 mines. On the night of 4 August, she had departed Emden and headed into the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary, which she began to do at dawn. The fire from the destroyers was ineffective until Amphion closed to a range of 7,000 yards and began hitting the German ship at about 11:15. By noon, Königin Luise was sinking and the three British ships rescued 5 officers and 70 ratings. The flotilla proceeded onwards with their patrol until they reached the Dutch coast around 21:00 and turned for home. Fox was uncertain as to the locations of the mines laid by Königin Luise and laid a course that was seven nautical miles west of where he thought the mines were. He guessed wrongly and led his flotilla over the danger area. At 06:35, Amphion struck a mine that detonated underneath her bridge. The explosion set her forecastle on fire and broke the ship’s keel. The destroyer H.M.S. Linnet attempted to tow the cruiser, but a deep crack across her upper deck showed that she was hogging badly and Fox ordered his crew to abandon ship. Shortly afterwards, her forward magazine exploded, throwing one 4-inch gun into the air that narrowly missed Linnet. One of Amphion’s shells burst on the deck of the destroyer Lark, killing two of her men and the only German prisoner rescued from the cruiser. Amphion then rapidly sank within 15 minutes of the explosion losing 1 officer and 131 ratings killed in the sinking, plus an unknown number of the crew rescued from Königin Luise. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Four: Battery Quarter-Master Sergeant W. J. Walters, Royal Field Artillery, who died in France in May 1915 Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith (10858 Gnr: W. J. Walters, 28th Bty: R.F.A.); 1914-15 Star (51237 Sjt. W. J. Walters. R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals (51237 B.Q.M. Sjt. W. J. Walters. R.A.) together with Memorial Plaque (William John Walters) the first nearly very fine, otherwise nearly extremely fine (5) £140-£180 --- William John Walters was born in the Parish of St Michael’s, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, and attested for the Royal Artillery at London on 13 August 1895, aged 18. He served in South Africa with the 28th Battery R.F.A. but was discharged from “W” Battery R.H.A. at Woolwich on 31 May 1902, having been found unfit for further service. Recalled for service in 1914, he served in France with 94th Battery, 5th Brigade R.F.A. from 1 April 1915. He died in France on 15 May 1917, and is commemorated by name on the Loos Memorial. Sold with parchment certificate of discharge, Soldier’s Book, and fibre identity disc.
A scarce Great War ‘German East Africa’ O.B.E. and D.C.M. group of five awarded to Major F. W. Gardner, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, who was also twice mentioned for services in East Africa The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 1st type breast badge, hallmarks for London 1919; Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (3926 Condr: F. W. Gardner. A.O.C.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major F. W. Gardner.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (S-3926 Condr: F. W. Gardner. A.O.C.) mounted as worn on a ‘home fabricated’ wearing bar, dark toned, good very fine (5) £1,400-£1,800 --- O.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 7 February 1919: ‘For valuable services rendered in connection with military operations in East Africa. Dated 1st January 1919.’ D.C.M. London Gazette 18 February 1918: ‘3926 Cdr. (now A.C.O. and Hon. Lt.) F. W. Gardner, A.O.C. (Aldershot). (E. AFRICA) ‘For conspicuous devotion to duty. He has rendered at all times most valuable service, and has efficiently carried out his responsible duties with the utmost zeal and devotion to duty.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 7 March 1918 (Major-General A. R. Hoskins, Commanding-in-Chief, East Africa Forces); and 31 January 1919 (Lieutenant-General J. L. Van Deventer, Commanding-in-Chief, East Africa Forces, despatch of 30 September 1918). Frederick William Gardner first served during the Great War as a conductor in the Army Ordnance Corps in East Africa but his Medal Index Card gives no date for his entry into this theatre. His promotion to Assistant Commissioner of Ordnance with the honorary rank of lieutenant was announced in the London Gazette of 14 December 1917. He at some time was further promoted to Acting Deputy Commissioner of Ordnance with honorary rank of captain, and to Deputy Commissioner of Ordnance with honorary rank of major. Gardner was recommended for his L.S. & G.C. medal on 1 January 1918, and this was announced in Army Order 11 of 1918. Sold with original Warrant for O.B.E., two original M.I.D. certificates, and A.O.C. certificates for the award of the D.C.M. and first mention in despatches; together with copied research including D.C.M. and Medal Index Cards, various gazette notices including Van Deventer’s despatch of 30 September 1918.
British War Medal 1914-20 (Dr. Naguib Bey Mahfouz.) minor edge bruise, very fine £180-£220 --- Naguib Mafouz MB, BCh, MCh, FRCP, Hon. FRCOG, Hon. FRCS was born in Mansoura, Egypt in January 1882. He founded the first department of obstetrics and gynaecology in Egypt at the Kasr el Aini Hospital in 1904, and served as obstetrician and gynaecologist to the Egyptian Royal Family. He served during the Great War with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force’s Medical Service, as a doctor at the Kasr el Aini Hospital, Cairo (MIC confirms that this is his full entitlement; he did not qualify for a Victory Medal). His autobiography, The Life of an Egyptian Doctor, gives the following: ‘When war broke out, most of the British professors at the Medical School volunteered for service with the army. When the military hospitals could not accommodate the wounded the Kasr El Aini Hospital was taken over by the army. The hospital was soon filled with the sick and wounded who were looked after by the Egyptian staff. For instance, although a gynaecologist and obstetrician and not a general surgeon, I was put in charge of a section of forty beds and performed all the necessary surgical operations on Australian and British soldiers, while I also looked after Turkish prisoners of war in their special ward. In May 1919 I contracted Typhus fever which I caught from a patient through not having noticed a scratch on one of my fingers when I operated without gloves, which we were short of during the war. Thirteen days after performing the operation symptoms of typhus appeared. The attack was exceptionally severe and I was looked after by my two friends Dr Sami Sabongi and Dr Iskander Girgawi.’ Professor Naguib Mafouz was awarded the Order of the Nile in 1919, and later the First Class Order of Merit and the State Prize of Distinction for Science in 1960. In time he had many private patients including the families of senior government ministers, diplomats, King Farouk and President Gamal Abdul Nasser. Whilst attempting to come to the aid of one of his patients, he had further brush with death: ‘In 1919 I had agreed to attend the confinement of the wife of the American First Secretary who was also Charge d’Affaires and who had employed for the occasion a nurse by the name of Mrs Lendrum. Labour came on suddenly and I was called at once. This happened to be the first day of the 1919 Egyptian Revolution and demonstrators had tried to get into the British Embassy and destroy it. Instructions went to the British Army to impose a curfew, of which I was completely unaware, on the whole district of Garden City. I drove my car, a De Dion Bouton Torpedo, to the Embassy’s official house in Garden City and as I drove came under fire from the British soldiers. Two bullets went through the windscreen of my car and whistled past my ear, one of them almost hitting me. Had it not been for Mrs Lendrum, who was that moment standing at the window and screaming at the top of her voice for the soldiers to stop firing, I would undoubtedly have been unable to write these lines.’ (Ibid) Professor Naguib Mafouz died aged 92 in July 1974. Sold with a copy of The Life of an Egyptian Doctor by recipient, published in 1966, and copied research, including photographic images of the recipient with King Farouk and President Abdel Gamal Nasser.
The Second War Mentioned in Despatches Certificate awarded to Captain the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, attached No. 2 Commando, Special Service Brigade, who was killed in action leading his men during a fierce action at Salerno on 16 September 1943; the great-great-grandson of the First Duke, he is the only holder of that illustrious title to lay down his life in action Mentioned in Despatches Certificate ‘Lieutenant (T/Captain) The Duke of Wellington, The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (W. Riding)’, dated 28 September 1944, mounted in a glazed display frame, good condition £2,000-£2,400 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2013. M.I.D. London Gazette 28 September 1944: ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy.’ Henry Valarian George Wellesley, 6th Duke of Wellington, was born on 14 July 1912, the only son of the 5th Duke of Wellington, and the great-great-grandson of the 1st Duke of Wellington. He was educated at Stowe School and on 13 November 1935, as Lord Mornington, was gazetted a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, joining them in early 1937 in Malta. He served with them there and in England until February 1939 when he was seconded to the King’s African Rifles. He went out to join them in East Africa and saw service with them in the Defence of Kenya against the Italians and in the successful Abyssinian Campaign. Having succeeded his father as 6th Duke of Wellington in 1941, he returned to England in 1942 following a severe attack of malaria. Whilst at home on sick and compassionate leave, following the death of his father, he took his seat and made his maiden speech in the House of Lords. His adventurous spirit then prompted him to apply for Commando training, which he won through with flying colours. Appointed to No. 2 Commando, Special Service Brigade, commanded by the charismatic, Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Churchill, M.C., he took part in the invasion of Sicily and in the landings at Salerno on 9 September 1943. Commanding No. 2 Troop, was killed in action by a hand grenade in the bitter fighting at Piegolette on 16 September 1943. Recommended for the award of the D.S.O., he was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches. He is buried in Salerno War Cemetery, Italy. He was succeeded to the title by his uncle, the 7th Duke of Wellington. A Memorial Service was held at Stratfield Saye Parish Church, at the family seat, on 9 October 1943, conducted by the Bishop of Winchester. In his address, Canon J. B. Barker said: ‘A century and a quarter ago England’s Sovereign conferred a Dukedom on England’s greatest soldier. Today we mourn the sixth holder of that honoured title - the first to lay down his life in action - whom all men knew as ‘Morny’. What kind of man was he? We will ask it first of his fellow-officers and men, and they will tell you of his bravery - his utter fearlessness in the face of danger.’ Sold with a representative group of medals to the Duke of Wellington, comprising 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; and representative unit insignia; a copy of the book ‘Wellington’, by Jane Wellesley; and copied research.
Three: Colonel R. Burns-Begg, K.C., a founding member of Kitchener’s Horse and Intelligence Officer to the Military Governor of Pretoria. He served as Crown Prosecutor for the infamous “Breaker” Morant trial, when the Anglo-Australian Lieutenant of the Bushveldt Carbineers was found guilty of murdering six Boer prisoners-of-war and three captured civilians in two separate incidents during the Second Boer War - the subject of much controversy at the time, and of a critically acclaimed feature film in 1980 Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill (Capt: R. Burns-Begg, Kitchener’s Horse.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Capt: R. Burns-Begg, S.A.M.I.F.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Col. R. Burns-Begg.) first two mounted for wear, generally good very fine or better (3) £700-£900 --- Robert Burns-Begg was born in Kinross in March 1872, and educated at Stranraer School, Bournemouth and Edinburgh University. He served as a Second Lieutenant and Instructor of Musketry with the 7th Clackmannanshire & Kinross Volunteer Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders from 1892. Burns Begg advanced to lieutenant in December 1893, and resigned his commission in November 1895. He travelled to Africa, and was appointed advocate and counsel to the Transvaal Government. Burns-Begg was commissioned lieutenant in the Cape Town Highlanders, and was employed as an intelligence officer and staff captain from March 1901. He advanced to captain in the South African Mounted Irregular Force from September 1901, and was intelligence officer to the Military Governor of Pretoria. Burns-Begg was employed as prosecuting counsel in the Floris Visser murder trial of “Breaker” Morant, and others of the Bushveldt Carbineers, 17 January 1902. Harry Morant, was an Anglo-Australian officer in the Bushveldt Carbineers, who was convicted and executed for murdering six Boer prisoners-of-war and three captured civilians in two separate incidents during the Second Boer War. The case, and subsequent execution received a lot of press coverage and debate in Australia. A number of books have been written about Morant, and Kenneth Ross wrote a critically acclaimed play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts which in 1980 was turned into a successful movie called Breaker Morant. Burns-Begg’s legal capabilities in the courtroom are recorded in Shoot Straight you Bastards by N. Bleszynski. He was recalled to England before the close of the trial, but not before he had destroyed the case of the defence. Burns-Begg was also the principal witness in the committal proceedings at Bow Street Court for Treason of “Colonel” Arthur Lynch, M.P., 1 August 1902. Lynch (an Irish Australian, who was MP for Galway Borough and fought for the Boers during the Second Boer War) was subsequently found guilty at trial, 24 January 1903, and sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment, and ultimately pardoned). The following is given about his varied career in The Scots Law Times, 11 March 1911: ‘Colonel Burns-Begg’s remarkable career has not yet solved the problem, which is the mightier weapon - the sword, the pen, or the baton? Since a wise institution told him that the development of his peculiar talents required a wider field than that afforded by the floor of the Parliament House, his returns thither at meteoric intervals, now as a soldier, now as a lawyer, now as an administrator, have left his friends in a state of bewildered admiration. His first military appointment, as galloper one manoeuvres to Brigadier General Sir J. H. A. Macdonald, was prophetic of a protean career. At the Speculative Society he was known as a master of picturesque and forcible English, and of an embarrassing capacity for the conduct of private business. Colonel Burns-Begg is now in his thirty-ninth year. After practising as an advocate for a little over two years he left Edinburgh for South Africa, and was called to the bar of Southern Rhodesia in 1898. The outbreak of the war gave pause, for the moment, to his legal career, and Lieut. Burns-Begg, with a commission in the Cape Colonial Forces, assisted Col. Legge and Major Congreve to raise Kitchener’s Horse in 1900. During the same year he was successively attached to the Maxim Gun Detachment R.F. and R.H.A. and to the staff of the Second Mounted Infantry Corps, in which services he took part in the marches to Bloemfontein and to Pretoria, and in the actions at Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg, and Diamond Hill. Through the remainder of the war he acted as Intelligence Officer on the Staff at Pretoria. He returned home with the rank of captain in March 1902, and during the year which followed held an appointment on the Headquarters Intelligence Staff of the War Office….. Returning to South Africa, he was appointed Legal Adviser to the Transvaal Government, and for five years succeeded in running his two professions in double harness, being made King’s Counsel in 1906 and rising to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel in command of the Northern Mounted Rifles. In 1908 he became Commissioner of the Transvaal Police, and retained that office until the autumn of last year [1910], when he resigned, owing to altered conditions brought about by the reconstitution of the Government of South Africa. After a visit to this country of less than six months, he is now about to take up the duties of Resident Commissioner and Commandant General of the Volunteer and Police Forces of Southern and Northern Rhodesia [1911-15], appointments which carry, ex officio, seats on the Legislative and Administrative Councils of these colonies…..’ Burns-Begg was appointed temporary colonel and commandant lines of communication, Folkestone 1915. The latter town being a vital link in the war effort, with some ten million troops and medical staff passing through the port to and from the front. Colonel Burns-Begg returned to Edinburgh on sick leave, and died of pneumonia, 9 January 1918. He is buried in the Kinross Cemetery, commemorated on the Sutton War Memorial, at Kinross Parish Church and on the Edinburgh University Faculty War Memorial. Sold with copied research, and photographic images of the recipient.
An outstanding Great War stretcher-bearer’s ‘Delville Wood, July 1916’ D.C.M. and ‘Calonne, May 1916 / Carency, June 1916’ M.M. group of five awarded to Corporal N. W. Bellinger, 13th Battalion, Essex Regiment Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (17391 Cpl. M. W. Bellinger. 13/Essex R.) note incorrect first initial (as per gazette and D.C.M. Card); Military Medal, G.V.R. (17391 Pte. N. W. Bellinger. 13/Essex: R.); 1914-15 Star (17391 Pte. N. W. Bellinger. Essex R.); British War and Victory Medals (17391 Cpl. N. W. Bellinger. Essex R.) note ‘Pellinger’ on B.W.M., mounted court-style for display, light contact marks, otherwise very fine (5) £2,400-£2,800 --- D.C.M. London Gazette 14 November 1916: ‘For conspicuous bravery and devotion in action in charge of stretcher-bearers. For several days he worked, without rest and under heavy fire, tending and bringing in wounded, and his energy, fearlessness, and efficiency undoubtedly saved many of the wounded, who otherwise could not have been brought in. On previous occasions he had been recommended for reward.’ Official War Office copy of the citation states: ‘(Delville Wood 29th-31st July 1916).’ M.M. London Gazette 14 September 1916. The Official War Office copy of the citation states: ‘As a stretcher bearer this man has always carried out his duties in a brave and efficient manner, in many instances under hostile fire, particularly on 15th May 1916, at Calonne, when though not recovered from a wound previously received, he dressed the wounds of Lance-Corporal Dutton and assisted to carry him down when under shell fire, and also at Carency, Northern Sub-Section, on the night 1/2nd June, when he assisted to bring down several wounded men during the consolidation of the three mines blown in that night. Similar actions have been performed by him on other occasions.’ Norman William Bellinger was living at Barking, Essex, when he enlisted for the Essex Regiment at East Ham on 16 January 1915. Posted as private to the 13th Battalion he served in France from 17 November 1915. He was wounded by gunshot in the knee, chest and left finger on 27 April 1916, these wounds being referred to in the citation for his M.M. Promoted to corporal on 4 July 1916, he was discharged on 11 February 1919. Sold with original War Office copies of both citations and letters of congratulation for each award from West Ham Town Hall, dated 24 October 1916, these all stabilised on cartridge paper, together with copied research including service papers and Battalion War Diary extracts.
A Staffordshire Volunteer Rifle Corps Officers Full Dress Pouch. A green velvet pouch mounted with silver embroidery, to the centre crowned laurel wreath with Staffordshire Knot; together with another NCOs brown leather pouch with Staffordshire Knot to the centre, with signs of another badge having previously been mounted, green velvet on first in poor condition, therefore overall fair condition (2) £80-£100s
A fine Peninsula Gold Medal awarded to Major-General C. E. Conyers, C.B., 82nd Regiment, for Orthes, 27 February 1814, at which battle he commanded his regiment until severely wounded Field Officer’s Small Gold Medal, for Orthes (Lieut. Coll. Chas. E. Conyers, 82nd Foot.) fitted with original glass lunettes and original gold ribbon buckle and suspension, this once neatly repaired and no longer swivels, a tiny chip to the upper edge of reverse lunette, otherwise good very fine £12,000-£16,000 --- Provenance: Glendining’s, November 1928; J. B. Hayward & Son, c.1975; Buckland Dix & Wood, April 1995; Dixon’s Gazette, Spring 2003; Baldwin’s, September 2016. Charles Edward Conyers appears to have been born in Castlelyons, County Cork, Ireland. Whilst records are scant concerning his lineage, he is believed to be a scion of the influential Conyers family of Castletown-Conyers, County Limerick. Charles Conyers received his first commission into the British Army in 1794, as a young ensign and soon found himself sent, via nine-months spent in Gibraltar, to the island of St Domingo in the West Indies. As part of the 1st Battalion 82nd Foot, this regiment was intended to assist in the establishment of a protectorate at Port-au-Prince at the request of a number of influential islanders, and to dislodge the increasingly beleaguered French military presence located there, which was suffering under something of a national rebellion against French rule and slavery. Some 832 rank and file of the 82nd Foot were embarked on 10 June 1795, under the command of the young Lieutenant-Colonel George Garnier, arriving at Mole St Nicholas, and proceeding immediately to Port-au-Prince to assist the governor, Major-General Sir Adam Williamson K.B., in a military offensive. Fighting from the district of Mirebalais, where, for a period of twelve months, the 82nd were the only European troops, Conyers was made lieutenant on 2 September 1795, and was present during a number of engagements with the enemy. The most serious of these attacks was made by the local chief and leader Toussaint L’Ouverture, on the whole line of the frontier, when 40 men of the 82nd, under Lieutenants Manners and Conyers, accompanied by some two thousand five hundred colonial levies, marched at night to assist Fort Serolle, then invested by four-thousand enemy soldiers, who were taken by surprise, subsequently dislodged and then dispersed with considerable casualties. For this particular success Lieutenant Conyers received a personal letter of thanks from Brigadier-General Churchill. Unfortunately, the 82nd lost their Commanding Officer Colonel Garnier (and his brother Henry, Ensign, amongst many) to yellow fever in December 1796, adding to their difficulties. In 1797 Conyers was placed in command of Fort Desureaux, leading a garrison of forty Europeans and three-hundred colonial troops. He had to repel several assaults during this period, and when Pestel was attacked, he personally led a party against the rear of the enemy, which caused the failure of their enterprise, and for his conduct on this occasion he again received a personal letter of thanks from Brigadier-General Churchill. In March 1798, he was appointed Fort Major of Irois, and during its siege, which lasted for three months, Lieutenant Conyers and two non-commissioned officers of the 82nd were wounded, and the garrison lost more men killed and wounded than its original number of three-hundred. Towards the end of 1798, treaties were made with the hostile chiefs for the evacuation of the island, owing to the constant fighting and the ravages of malaria and yellow fever, the remains of the 82nd were collected at Jaremie, under the command of Lieutenant Conyers, the only remaining officer of the original number which had landed less than three years before at St Domingo. In total, from the original contingent, 22 officers were lost as well as some 1000 men. After returning to England in late January 1799, he served briefly in the expedition to Quiberon Bay in France, before serving in Minorca for two years with the 82nd Foot, until it was ceded to Spain under the terms of the Peace of Amiens, before being removed to Ireland in 1802. In this year Conyers was promoted to captain on 25 June, and made A.D.C. to Major-General Patrick Wauchope. It appears that he subsequently followed Wauchope to Malta for 1 year and 8 months, and then on to Egypt in 1807 as A.D.C., serving as a member of the staff under General Alexander Mackenzie-Fraser, to confront Ottoman forces in that strategic location. He was present with the British force led by Wauchope at the storming and retreat from Rosetta, as the British forces were shot and sniped from windows in the labyrinthine streets. Here Wauchope was killed and Captain Conyers was wounded with him in the fighting, receiving a severe contusion (presumably from a glancing bullet). His service papers then detail that he was subsequently made A.D.C. to Brigadier-General Sir William Stewart during the siege of Rosetta, before the British and Colonial army’s retreat to Sicily, where Captain Conyers served for 2 years and on the staff as brigade major. Returning to England after some 9 years abroad in 1809, he was officially promoted to major on 16 February 1809, when he was granted three months’ leave. His service papers inconveniently end at this point, but it does not appear that he took part in the ill-fated Walcheren Expedition in which both battalions of the 82nd Foot served. We do know, however, from the Royal Military calendar that he served on the staff as brigade major in Spain under Wellington. The 82nd saw a great deal of action throughout the war in Spain and France, and perhaps owing to the severity in senior officer casualties suffered amongst the 82nd Foot during this campaign he appears to have been the highest-ranking able-bodied officer of the regiment by late 1813. Continuing into 1814, he saw his finest hour during the operations on the Gave d’Oleron, at Hastingues and Oyer le Gave across the Pyrenees, culminating in the Battle of Orthes on 27 February. Here he led his regiment into action against concentrated French forces in a superior position, and commanded it successfully until he was severely wounded, being awarded the Army Gold Medal, as well as another being awarded to Major Vincent who succeeded him in command. Despite inflicting heavy French casualties, the 82nd suffered only 2 officer casualties, Conyers severely wounded and Lieutenant Drummond wounded, two other ranks killed and 34 wounded, suggesting that Conyers had been conspicuous at the front of his men. After a brief pause of 4 months, he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and thereafter Conyers was sent to command the 82nd Foot in Canada and North America in the War of 1812. 590 remaining rank and file embarked at Paulliac in Bordeaux on 5 May 1814, travelling to Quebec. Arriving in Canada, they travelled to meet the British army and fight with Canadian and Native Indian Volunteers at Fort Erie on the Niagara Frontier. In particular, it appears that Conyers here commanded the 2nd Battalion 82nd Foot until peace was made with America in March 1815, following the British capture of Washington, and the American victory at New Orleans. The Second Battalion was subsequently reduced and returned to England and Conyers was made lieutenant-colonel on 20 April 1815. He was stationed in Ireland at Birr as commanding officer for two years before returning to England, and whilst at his home in Fulham he married Miss Sarah Teixeria de Sampayo, daughter of the Portuguese consul-general in London (and former inspector general of cavalry in Lisbon) Count Antonio Teixeria de Sampayo, on 14 June 1815. He had three children, Charles Edward Conyers jnr. (himself later an officer in the 2nd ...
Pair: Private A. Stephenson, Royal Artillery Crimea 1854-56, 4 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann, Sebastopol, unofficial rivets between third and fourth clasps (Alex. Stephenson. F. Batt. 11th. Bat. R.A.) contemporarily engraved naming; Turkish Crimea 1855, British issue, unnamed as issued, pierced as issued with ring suspension, suspension repaired on first and no longer swivels, edge bruising and contact marks, nearly very fine (2) £300-£400 --- Alexander Stephenson served with ‘F’ Battery, 11th Battalion, Royal Artillery in the Crimea.
A Great War C.I.E. group of five awarded to Captain E. I. M. Barrett, Commissioner of Police, Shanghai, late Lancashire Fusiliers, who was wounded at Venters Spruit during the Boer War; a keen sportsman, he played Rugby Union for England; first class cricket for Hampshire; and won the Japan Amateur Golf Championship The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 3rd type neck badge, gold and enamel, with neck riband; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, the first clasp a tailor’s copy (Lieut. E. I. M. Barrett. Lanc. Fusrs.) officially re-engraved naming; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lieut. E. I. M. Barrett. Lanc. Fusrs.) officially re-engraved naming; Shanghai Municipal Police Long Service Medal, silver (Capt. E. I. M. Barrett, C.I.E., Com of Police) edge prepared prior to naming; War Medal 1939-45, the second, third, and fourth mounted as worn, the War Medal loose, retaining rod missing from the Shanghai award, light contact marks, generally very fine and better (5) £1,800-£2,200 --- C.I.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919: ‘For meritorious services connected with the War.’ Edward Ivo Medhurst Barrett was born in Churt, Surrey, on 22 June 1879 and was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers on 11 February 1899, and served with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa during the Boer War as part of the Ladysmith Relief Force, and was slightly wounded at the engagement at Venters Spruit on 20 January 1900. Promoted captain in 1902, in June of that year he was seconded as a wing officer to the Malay States Guides. He joined the Shanghai Municipal Police on 1 May 1907, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1919. He served as Commissioner of Police, Shanghai from 1925 to 1929. A keen sportsman, Barrett played rugby union for England against Scotland in the Calcutta Cup Match in the 1903 Four Nations Championship (which Scotland won 10-6 on their way to the Triple Crown), and between 1896 and 1925 played 86 first class cricket matches for both Hampshire and the Marylebone Cricket Club, with a top score of 215. He also won the Japan amateur golf championship in 1917. He died in Boscombe on 10 July 1950. Sold with the recipient’s original Bestowal Document for the C.I.E. For the recipient’s related miniature awards, see Lot 533.
The Naval General Service Medal awarded to Able Seaman George Brace, who witnessed the destruction of the Danish 74 Prindts Christian Frederick as a Landsman in the Stately, and afterwards, in the boats of the Princess Caroline, shared in a bloody encounter with Russian gun-boats in the Gulf of Finland Naval General Service 1793-1840, 2 clasps, Stately 22 March 1808, 25 July Boat Service 1809 (Geo. Brace.) minor edge bruises and scratching in both fields, otherwise good very fine £8,000-£10,000 --- Provenance: Sotheby, November 1894; Debenham’s, December 1897; W. E. Gray Collection 1898; Glendining’s, May 1920, November 1952, July 1956, and March 1973; Christie’s, November 1985; Glendining’s, September 1991; John Goddard Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, November 2015. Stately 22 March 1808 [31 clasp issued] - 15 medals known, including examples in the National Maritime Museum; Royal Marines Museum; Honeyman Collection (Huntington Library, U.S.A.); and the Patiala Collection (2), (Sheesh Mahal Museum, India). 25 July Boat Service 1809 [36 issued] - 14 medals known, including examples in the National Maritime Museum (2), the Royal Naval Museum, and the Patiala Collection (Sheesh Mahal Museum, India). George Brace is confirmed on the rolls as a Landsman on board the Stately at her action with the Danish 74-gun Prindts Christian Frederick in March 1808, and in the same rate on board the Princess Carolina for her boat action of 25 July 1809. George Brace was born in London and joined the Navy on 3 July 1807, being taken on board the Stately as a Landsman on 29 October of the same year, aged 20 years. His next ship was the Princess Caroline which he joined on 22 September 1808, being advanced to Ordinary Seaman in February 1810, and to Able Seaman in April 1811. He left the Princess Caroline on 21 September 1814, to join the Tanais in which ship he served until paid off on 31 May 1816. Sold with copied muster lists and statement of service. Stately and Nassau destroy the 74-gun Danish ship of the line Prindts Christian Frederick On 22 March 1808, at 2 p.m., the British 64-gun ships Stately, Captain George Parker, and Nassau, Captain Robert Campbell, proceeding towards the Great Belt, descried and chased a strange sail. At 4 p.m., off the Jutland coast, the stranger was made out to be an enemy, and at 5 p.m., a Danish ship of the line, which evidently intended to run herself ashore, if no other means of escape presented itself. At 7.40 p.m. the Nassau got up with, and opened fire upon the Danish 74-gun ship Prindts Christian Frederick, Captain Jessen, and, in a few minutes afterwards, the Stately closed and did the same. A running fight was thus maintained, with great obstinacy on the part of the 74, until 9.30 p.m., when the Prindts Christian Frederick struck her colours. At this time the latter was within less than 500 yards of the shore of Zealand, and, before the first lieutenant of the Stately, who had gone on board to take possession, could cut away her anchor, the prize grounded. The two British ships, fortunately for them, had already brought up near her. The remaining part of the night was employed in removing the prisoners, but it was found impossible to get the captured ship afloat. In the evening of the 23rd, as the Danes were preparing their artillery on the coast, and as the wind blew strong on the shore and a good deal of sea was running, the Prindts Christian Frederick was set on fire by her captors, and in a short time blew up. The loss on the part of the Stately was two seamen and two marines killed, and one lieutenant, the boatswain, one master's mate, 23 seamen and two marines wounded. The Nassau had one seaman killed and one missing, and one first-class volunteer, 10 seamen and five marines wounded; the total British loss amounting to five killed and 45 wounded and missing. The Prindts Christian Frederick, out of a complement on board of 576 men and boys, had 55 killed and 88 wounded. The boats of a British squadron capture three Russian gun-boats in a most sanguinary affair off the Gulf of Finland On 25 July 1809, Captain Charles Dudley Paten, commanding a British squadron, composed of his own ship the Princess Caroline 74, the Minotaur 74, Captain John Barrett, the 18-pounder 32-gun frigate Cerberus, Captain Henry Whitby, and the 18-gun ship-sloop Prometheus, Captain Thomas Forrest, permitted the latter to lead the boats of the squadron, 17 in number, to the attack of four Russian gun-boats and an armed brig, lying at Fredericksham, near Apso roads, in the gulf of Finland. After dark the boats, commanded by Captain Forrest, pushed off from the squadron, and at 10.30 p.m. commenced the attack. After a most desperate and sanguinary conflict, three of the gun-boats, mounting two long 38-pounders each, and having on board between them 137 men, besides an armed transport brig, with 23 men, were captured and brought off. Costly, indeed, were the prizes. The British loss amounted to one lieutenant, one second lieutenant of marines, one midshipman, and six seamen and marines killed; Captain Forrest himself, one lieutenant, three midshipmen, and 46 seamen and marines wounded. The Russians, on their side, acknowledged a loss of 28 killed and 59 wounded, making a total of 47 men killed and 110 wounded, in obtaining possession of three gun-boats. One of these gun-boats, No. 62, was so obstinately defended, that every man of her 44-man crew was either killed or wounded before she surrendered, 24 of these being killed. The result of this enterprise was a defeat to the Russians certainly, but under circumstances that reflected the brightest honour upon the character of their navy. For the gallantry he had shown on the occasion, Captain Forrest was promoted to post-rank.
Seven: Leading Cook W. J. Sims, Royal Navy, who survived the sinking of H.M.S. Amphion on 6 August 1914, when she struck a mine off the Thames Estuary and sank with the loss of 132 men killed; she was the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the Great War. 1914-15 Star (M.5636, W. J. Sims, Ck. Mte., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (M.5636. W. J. Sims. Ck. Mte. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (M.5636, W. J. Sims., L. Ck. H.M.S. Vivid.) contact marks and edge bruising, nearly very fine and better (7) £120-£160 --- William Sims was born in Plymstock, Devon, on 12 September 1894 and attested for the Royal Navy on 24 January 1913. He joined H.M.S. Amphion on 29 October 1913, which, by the start of the Great War, was leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, assigned to the Harwich Force, defending the eastern approaches to the English Channel, under the command of Captain Cecil H. Fox. In the morning of 5 August, Amphion and the 3rd Flotilla sortied into the North Sea to patrol the area between Harwich and the Dutch island of Terschelling for German activity. At 10:15 a ship in the black, buff, and yellow colours of the Great Eastern Railway’s steamers that plied between Harwich and the Hook of Holland was spotted. Fox sent the destroyers H.M.S. Lance and H.M.S. Landrail to investigate and shortly afterwards another destroyer reported that a trawler had seen a suspicious ship, 'throwing things overboard, presumably mines'. H.M.S. Amphion led the flotilla to investigate and observed that the fleeing ship was deploying mines even then. At 10:45, Lance opened fire at a range of 4,400 yards (4,000 m). The target was S.M.S. Königin Luise, a former Hamburg-Heligoland excursion boat that had been converted to an auxiliary minelayer by the Germans. They had planned to mount a pair of 8.8-centimetre (3.5 in) guns on board, but they did not have the time to do so; her only armament was a pair of lighter guns and 180 mines. On the night of 4 August, she had departed Emden and headed into the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary, which she began to do at dawn. The fire from the destroyers was ineffective until Amphion closed to a range of 7,000 yards and began hitting the German ship at about 11:15. By noon, Königin Luise was sinking and the three British ships rescued 5 officers and 70 ratings. The flotilla proceeded onwards with their patrol until they reached the Dutch coast around 21:00 and turned for home. Fox was uncertain as to the locations of the mines laid by Königin Luise and laid a course that was seven nautical miles west of where he thought the mines were. He guessed wrongly and led his flotilla over the danger area. At 06:35, Amphion struck a mine that detonated underneath her bridge. The explosion set her forecastle on fire and broke the ship’s keel. The destroyer H.M.S. Linnet attempted to tow the cruiser, but a deep crack across her upper deck showed that she was hogging badly and Fox ordered his crew to abandon ship. Shortly afterwards, her forward magazine exploded, throwing one 4-inch gun into the air that narrowly missed Linnet. One of Amphion’s shells burst on the deck of the destroyer Lark, killing two of her men and the only German prisoner rescued from the cruiser. Amphion then rapidly sank within 15 minutes of the explosion losing 1 officer and 131 ratings killed in the sinking, plus an unknown number of the crew rescued from Königin Luise. Having survived her sinking, Sims saw later war service in H.M.S. Benbow and H.M.S. Rule. On 22 January 1919 he married Winifred Metters at St Eustachius parish church, Tavistock, Devon, but she was tragically killed in car accident later that day. Later that year he married again. He continued to serve post war and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1928. Discharged to pension at the end of January 1935, he was mobilised from 29 September to 3 October 1938 and later recalled for service during the Second World War. serving in H.M.S. Lucia the base for the Red Sea Force from 23 September 1939 to 29 September 1941. He remained in Lucia until the 29th September 1941 before service in H.M.S. Malaya and H.M.S. Drake, before his eventual discharge, whilst serving in H.M.S. Imperieuse, on 17 August 1945. Post war, he worked as a civilian in the catering section of a naval camp. He died, aged 79, in Plymouth, on 28 September 1973.
Five: Sergeant B. G. Miller, Royal Garrison Artillery Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (84104 Gnr: B. G. Miller, 6th E.D., R.G.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (84104 Gnr: B. G. Miller. R.G.A.) first initial possibly re-impressed; British War and Victory Medals (SR-6943 Sjt. B. G. Miller. R.A.); Belgium, Croix de Guerre, A.I.R., good very fine (5) £160-£200 --- Croix de Guerre not confirmed.
Pair: Admiral C. H. Adair, Royal Navy, who accompanied and instructed the young Princes Albert and George on the cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante, and was later A.D.C. to their father King Edward VII Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, no clasp (Lieut. C. H. Adair. R.N. H.M.S. “Helicon.”); Khedive’s Star, dated 1884-6, unnamed as issued, with a fine cabinet photograph of recipient in uniform, signed by him and dated ‘1913’, mounted for wear, light contact marks, generally very fine (2) £400-£500 --- Approximately 29 Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, no clasp medals issued to H.M.S. Helicon. Charles Henry Adair was born in July 1851, and was the son of Colonel C. W. Adair, C.B., Royal Marines. He joined the Royal Navy in October 1864, and the Liverpool Daily Post, 21 September 1869, gives the following: ‘Lieutenant Adair and his brother William were charged with “wanton outrages” in that they had smashed a number of garden vases and ornaments whilst also injuring a number of flowers and shrubs in Maidstone Road, Rochester. Charles was further charged with wilfully breaking a street lamp in Rochester High Street wit his walking stick, and assaulting a police constable in the execution of his duty. They appeared before the Mayor and Magistrates at the Guidhall, Rochester. Both men pleaded guilty to the charges and their father Colonel C. W. Adair, C.B., Royal Marines, spoke on their behalf as did others. The Mayor agreed that they should be fined, consequently a total of £7-17s was paid by the brothers who produced a a number of banknotes.’ The above seems not to have unduly affected the young Adair’s career, as he was promoted Lieutenant in June 1874. His service record gives ‘Commanded 1st Co. “Actives” men destroying piratical villages in Congo River, 18 September 1875’. Adair elected to specialise in gunnery, and served with H.M.S. Bacchante, July 1879 - August 1882. Whilst with the latter, he found himself in contact with the Royal Family. The two oldest sons of the Prince of Wales had entered the navy in 1877, and by 1879 it had been decided by the Royal Family and the Government that the two should undertake a cruise. They were assigned to Bacchante, which was then part of a squadron intended to patrol the sea lanes of the British Empire. The Princes, with their tutor John Neale Dalton, duly came aboard on 17 September 1879. The Bacchante was to be their home for the next three years, and the future Duke of Clarence and King George V were instructed by Adair: ‘The First Lieutenant the Honourable A. G. Curzon-Hawe taught the princes seamanship, the Gunnery Lieutenant C. H. Adair, instructed them in that skill.’ (Royal Education Past, Present and Future by P. Gordon and D. Lawton refers) The Reverend Dalton later donated photographs of the trip to the Royal Collection, and Adair features amongst them. Adair advanced to Commander in January 1886, and to Captain in June 1893. He was appointed to H.M.S. Royal Sovereign in January 1900, and the Christchurch Times, 16 November 1901, reported: ‘Gun Accident On Board the Royal Sovereign. A big gun burst on board the Royal Sovereign while she was manoeuvring. One officer and six artillerymen were killed and the captain of the ship and thirteen sailors were seriously injured. Captain Charles Henry Adair, who, is reported to have been seriously injured by the explosion was appointed to the ship on January 30th 1900.’ Adair, having recuperated from his injuries, was appointed A.D.C. to H.M. The King in January 1904. He advanced to Rear Admiral in April 1905, and was appointed to the command of the Second Cruiser Squadron the following year. Adair was promoted Admiral in May 1913, and retired at his own request later that month. Admiral Adair died in March 1920. Sold with copied research, including a group photographic image of the crew of H.M.S. Bacchante from the Royal Collection.
Four: Colonel H. R. Milvain, 12th Lancers, who received a ‘bullet through his neck, which came out through his jaw’, during the charge of the 12th Lancers at the Battle of Diamond Hill, 11 June 1900. He later served with the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment during the Irish Rebellion of 1916, and served in France as Horse Master to the Royal Field Artillery. Milvain commanded the 2nd Battalion, Northumberland Home Guard during the Second World War Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill (Lieut: H. R. Milvain, 12: R: Lancers) impressed naming, edge bruise; British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Major H. R. Milvain.); Defence Medal, mounted for wear, otherwise generally good very fine (4) £800-£1,200 --- Henry Roland Milvain was born in London in January 1880. He was the son of Thomas Milvain, Q.C., of Eglingham Hall, Chancellor of the County Palatine of Durham, Recorder of Bradford, and later Judge Advocate General. Milvain’s obituary, which appeared in 9/12 Lancer’s Regimental Journal, gives the following: ‘Roley Milvain joined the 12th Royal Lancers in 1899 from Sandhurst and served in the Regiment during the South African War, when he was badly wounded. As soon as he had recovered, he rejoined the Regiment in India, and subsequently served as Adjutant. He was seconded, in 1907, to become Adjutant of the Northumberland Hussars, and in 1911 he left the 12th Lancers and joined that Regiment. At the start of the 1914 war, he rejoined the 12th Lancers, being posted as Adjutant to the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment (5th and 12th Lancers) who were stationed, first at Marlborough Barracks Dublin, and afterwards in the Gunner Barracks at Kildare, where he was at the time of the 1916 Irish Rebellion. When the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment was disbanded after the Rebellion, Roley joined the B.E.F. in France as a horse master to the Royal Field Artillery. He was demobilized early in 1919. During the 1939-45 war he joined the Home Guard and commanded a Battalion. Roley Milvain was a great foxhunter. Whilst still at Eton, he was master of the Beagles. For the season of 1898, and again in 1910, when he was Adjutant of the Northumberland Hussars, he took over the Mastership of the Percy Foxhounds, hunting hounds himself until 1921, with the exception of the War Years, when his wife hunted hounds for him. In 1921 he retired from the Percy, and formed his private pack of hounds ‘The Milvain’. He hunted these hounds himself, without subscription, until he retired in 1955 at the age of 75. His was one of the last packs of foxhounds to be hunted without a subscription, in Great Britain. During the forty-five years that Roley hunted hounds, he showed most excellent sport, and there were few better judges of hounds on the flags. He took great interest in racing, and rode and trained many winners. He died on 17th August, 1960, in his 81st year. A very great sportsman who will be sadly missed in the County of Northumberland, where he lived.’ The wound that the obituary refers to, was suffered by Milvain during the charge of the 12th Lancers at the Battle of Diamond Hill, 11 June 1900. He received a ‘bullet through his neck, which came out through his jaw.’ The regiment fought conspicuously at Diamond Hill, where they charged to save the guns of “Q” Battery, Royal Horse Artillery. It was ‘in this action that the aristocratic and gallant Lord Airlie, commanding the 12th Lancers, was killed just after leading his men in a boot-to-boot charge. The Times History recorded that his last words were an order: “Troops about wheel!” Churchill reported the order as “Files about!” but according to Conan Doyle his last words were addressed to a cursing sergeant: “Pray moderate your language.” (The Great Boer War by B. Farwell refers) Of the 60 men that Lord Airlie led to clear the guns, one other officer apart from himself was killed, one was captured, and Milvain and six other ranks were wounded. He was presented with his Q.S.A. by the King, 29 July 1901. Having survived the Great War, Milvain commanded the 2nd Battalion, Northumberland Home Guard until their stand down in December 1944. M.I.D. Unconfirmed. Sold with copied research, and several photographic images of recipient in uniform.
Three: Captain A. R. Peel, South Wales Borderers, attached Nigerian Mounted Infantry, who was killed in action leading his men in a bayonet charge at Kosseoa, Cameroons, 17 November 1914 - the Regiment’s only ‘African’ casualty of 1914 1914-15 Star (Capt. A. R. Peel. S. Wales Bord.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. A. R. Peel.) good very fine and rare to an officer casualty for this theatre (3) £400-£500 --- The following is given in The Roll of Honour: ‘Captain Alan Ralph Peel South Wales Borderers (24th Regiment), eldest surviving son of Herbert Peel, of Taliaris Park, county Carmarthen. Born Taliaris Park 7 July 1886. Educated Cheltenham College and Sandhurst. Gazetted 2nd lieutenant to the South Wales Borderers 24 January 1906. Promoted lieutenant 1 December 1907, and captain 12 September 1914. Served with the 1st Battalion in India 1907-9, and at Pretoria 1910. Attached to the South African Mounted Infantry February 1911, and quartered at Harrismith and Bloemfontein to 1912 in which year he was seconded to the West African Frontier Force (Nigeria Regiment). Returning home on furlough in 1914, he was the same year seconded for service with the Nigerian Mounted Infantry, and left again for Africa in June; he was killed in action leading a bayonet charge, at Kossoea, near Marna, North Cameroons, 17 November 1914. His commanding officer wrote as follows: “I had made application for him to join me, knowing his ability. You have the honour of knowing no soldier could have met a more gallant death, viz. at the head of his men, leading them to the charge and showing an example of great bravery. He was buried with all honours by the Captain of the French company with whom he was operating at the time. The latter wrote: “I paid the funeral honours... to the two brave English officers MM. le Capt. A. R. Peel and Lieut. Percival, who fell on the field of honour while giving to their men an example of great bravery”. The Commandant Nigeria Regiment wrote as follows: “To lighten your sorrow you have the honour of knowing that your son died in a manner worthily upholding the finest traditions of the Service, and setting an example of valour to the whole regiment among whom he was deservedly known as a brave and upright officer and the best of good comrades”. Captain Peel is commemorated on the Zaria Memorial, Nigeria and is the regiment’s only ‘African’ casualty of 1914. Further details of his death are given in The Carmarthen Journal & South Wales Weekly Advertiser, 12 March 1915: ‘It is stated that the Captain arrived at Kosseoa entered the village without seeing any signs of the enemy, and proceeded to water and feed the horses. He made some enquiries of some of the inhabitants, who treacherously told him that there were no Germans in the neighbourhood, and that they had never seen any. Very soon the advance scouts reported the presence of the enemy in the near front. Captain A. R. Peel handed over the horses to the No. 3 and sent them behind the village. He himself, with the remainder of the men at his disposal, advanced towards the southern end of the village, and almost immediately came into contact with the enemy, formed his men in extended lines, advanced by rushes and charged with the bayonet when within about thirty yards of the enemy, who had got down into a little “donga”. He himself was the first killed, leading his men to the charge, and falling dead into the “donga” shot through the heart. At this moment Lieutenant Percival, who had not previously joined up, appeared on the scene of action with his section, reinforced those already engaged, and also charged their position. He, too, was immediately shot. Two native sergeants and one private were also killed and three men wounded. The men, who, were naturally shaken by their leaders having been shot down in this manner, then retired, apparently in good order as they brought away their wounded, and must have behaved well under trying circumstances.’ Sold with copied research, including photographic image of recipient in uniform.
![Four: Stoker First Class R. H. Hyland, Royal Navy 1914-15 Star (K.12053, H. R. [sic] Hyland. Sto.1., R.N.); British War and](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/01dfdb88-8fcb-46d3-a5b0-af65010dddf7/400c7ea9-c560-49b6-8df4-afb4000e5616/468x382.jpg)
Four: Stoker First Class R. H. Hyland, Royal Navy 1914-15 Star (K.12053, H. R. [sic] Hyland. Sto.1., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (K.12053, H. R. [sic] Hyland. Sto.1. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (K.12053, R. H. Hyland. Sto.1. H.M.S. Pembroke.) heavily polished, contact marks and edge bruising, fair to fine (4) £80-£100 --- Robert Henry Hyland was born in Belvedere, Kent, on the 23 May 1891 and joined the Royal Navy on 5 August 1911. Advanced Stoker First Class on 9 August 1912, he served during the Great War in H.M.S. Llewellyn, H.M.S. Lavercock and H.M.S. Recruit. Awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 4 October 1926, he was discharged to pension on 4 August 1933 and died, aged 77, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, on 1 June 1968.
A fine Great War ‘Delville Wood, August 1916’ D.C.M. and ‘First Day of the battle of the Somme’ M.M. group of five awarded to Corporal Jack Dales, South Staffordshire Regiment Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (8891 Cpl. J. Dales. 1/S. Staff: R.); Military Medal, G.V.R. (8891 L. Cpl. J. Dales. 2/S. Staff: R:); 1914 Star (8891 Pte. J. Dales. 1/S. Staff: R.); British War and Victory Medals (8891 Cpl. J. Dales. S. Staff. R.) mounted court style, first two with slack suspensions, tightened or repaired, edge bruising and contact marks, therefore good fine or better (5) £2,000-£2,400 --- D.C.M. London Gazette 25 November 1916: ‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. He held his post almost alone under intense fire, displaying great courage and determination. Later, he set fire to a box of smoke bombs, thus screening the infantry who had been forced to temporarily vacate their position.’ Annotated gazette states: ‘Near Delville Wood, 31 August 1916’. The Battalion War Diary records on 31 October 1916 state: ‘In Camp at Romarin. The following awards have been made during the month for gallantry in the field since 1st July 1916. Distinguished Conduct Medal, No. 8871 Corporal J. Dales.’ The very lengthy entries for the battalion’s action at Delville Wood, 29-31 August 1916, describe in detail the very bitter fighting that took place with the loss of 10 Officers and 265 Other Ranks killed, wounded or missing. The Fighting Strength of the Battalion, going into trenches was approximately 18 Officers, and 700 Other Ranks. M.M. London Gazette 10 August 1916. Awarded for service with the 2nd Battalion in their attack at Mametz on 1 July 1916, when the battalion had 10 officers and about 300 other ranks killed or wounded. ‘Most of our casualties occurred after we had taken Dantzig Alley. During the action the Battalion captured Machine Guns and Automatic Rifles, Portable Telephones, and a great quantity of stores of all kinds.’ Jack Dales served in France and Flanders from 4 October 1914, and is entitled to the 1914 Star with Clasp and the Silver War Badge, being listed as having been wounded twice. Sold with copied research including D.C.M. and Medal Index Cards, gazette notices, and Battalion War Diary entries for June to November 1916.
Four: Engine Room Artificer First Class S. B. Wilde, Royal Navy 1914-15 Star (270093, S. B. Wilde, E.R.A.1. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (270093. S. B. Wilde. E.R.A.1 R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (270093. S. B. Wilde, E.R.A. 1st Cl. H.M.S. Dido.) contact marks, otherwise generally very fine (4) £80-£100 --- Samuel Wilde was born in Conisbrough, Yorkshire, on 21 May 1875 and joined the Royal Navy on 6 March 1900. Advanced Engine Room Artificer First Class on 4 March 1913, he served during the Great War in H.M.S. Lark and the depot ship H.M.S. Dido. Awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 1 February 1915, he was shore pensioned on 16 March 1922. He died, aged 71, in Kirkham, Lancashire, on 12 December 1945.
The outstanding and extremely rare ‘double long service’ group of three awarded to Regimental Sergeant-Major E. Morel, Royal Wiltshire Imperial Yeomanry, late Life Guards Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen, South Africa 1901 (100 Q.M. Sgt. E. Morel, 1st Impl: Yeo:); Army L.S. & G.C., V.R., 3rd issue, small letter reverse (714. Tp. Cpl. Maj: E. Morel. 2nd Life Gds.); Imperial Yeomanry L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (232 R.S. Maj: E. Morel. R. Wilts: I.Y.) mounted for display, nearly extremely fine (3) £800-£1,200 --- Approximately 38 Imperial Yeomanry L.S. & G.C. Medals awarded to Royal Wiltshire Imperial Yeomanry. Edward Morel was born in 1854 at East Grinstead, West Sussex, the son of Alfred Morel and Ellen Tate. By family repute his father was the illegitimate child of the union between a Madame Morel of France and William, 3rd Baron de Blaquiere, of Ardkill in the County of Londonderry, who later committed suicide at Norwood in consequence of failing health associated with lithropic disease and smallpox. The 1881 England Census records Morel as married to Sarah Ann and living at the barracks of the Life Guards in Regents Park whilst serving as corporal of horse in the 2nd Battalion. A decade later he is noted as R.M. of 'G' Troop at Rood Ashton (The Annals of the Yeomanry of Wiltshire, refers) and the 1911 Census records the couple living at West Ashton, near Trowbridge, Wiltshire, his occupation described as ‘Army pensioner and storage agent’. He is also father to a 20 year old daughter named Nora. Affectionately known as ‘The Sergeant Major’ in his village and known for his bluff and hearty manner and burly structure and build, Morel died in 1933 having struggled with failing health for two years. His obituary, which was published in The Parade (Trowbridge) Newspaper, adds a little more detail regarding his career: His was an interesting and varied career. As a young man he served for two years in the St. George’s Volunteers, London - for he was a Londoner and in all his years in Wilts never quite lost the accent of the Metropolis. After this he joined the Life Guards, and served in this famous regiment for 15 years, qualifying for the Long Service Medal. On leaving the regular army at the expiration of this period he became attached to the permanent staff of the Royal Wiltshire Imperial Yeomanry, with the rank of sergeant-major, and served the county’s cavalry regiment for twenty-two years, qualifying for another long service medal - a very rare distinction - and retiring with the rank of regimental sergeant major in 1908. He was made the recipient at the annual camp, of a handsome cheque and piece of plate from his comrades of the Yeomanry, Colonel (now Brigadier-General) Palmer making the presentation. When the two companies of the Royal Wilts Imperial Yeomanry were raised at Trowbridge in 1900 for service in the South African War, Sergt.-Major Morel did splendid work in recruiting and training the men, and himself went to the front with them, with the rank of quartermaster sergeant. Though when the Great War came in 1914 he had long passed the age for active service, his heart was always with the forces, and many were the ways in which he served the country’s cause at home. It will be recalled that it was Mr. Morel who provided Trowbridge with its first “Roll of Honour” board, which hung outside the Town Hall until the list became too long to be shown thereon, and a larger one became necessary. After his military service had concluded he settled at West Ashton, carrying on the business as a forage merchant, but finding time for many public duties.’ This was in fact not the first time that details of Morel had appeared in the local press. He regularly wrote home to his wife during his service in South Africa, and details from these letters featured in the Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser. He also provided details of the service of the 1st Wiltshire Yeomanry during the war, which appeared in the Devizes & Wiltshire Gazette, 14 March 1901: ‘The Battalion reached Bloemfontein on 1st May and expected to join Lord Roberts in his advanced to Pretoria. They were turned to the right and sent to Thaba Nchu when they joined General Rubdle’s (8th) Division. They were practically the only cavalry of the Division, and their business was to round up all those commandos who were coming away over the Free State border for Natal. In this Rundle was successful Prinsloo surrendered with 6,000 Boers, although De Wet got away. Then they went to Harrismith anticipating they would soon go home, but instead of that they were sent away for two months trek to round up cattle. With the headquarters it was not thought the 1st Company would see any fighting, but it turned out that they fell in for a lot of sniping and small actions, and were the defenders of Ladybrand. Only a portion of the Wiltshire Yeomanry entered the Transvaal that was when they went to Standerton for supplies. Summing up the work of the Wiltshire Yeomanry, Quarter Master Sergeant Morel thinks they had the maximum of work and hardships and the minimum of glory. They had come in for a lot of sniping and had a number of deaths in that manner but they had not been in a general action, except when Prinsloo surrendered, and the 1st Company in the Defence of Ladybrand.’ Morel suffered from bouts of Enteric Fever, and was invalided home. He died in February 1927: ‘In Morel we found the finest characteristics of an Englishman: Brave as a lion, generous to a degree, and that unselfish and unfailing virtue of always being able to smile, and above all to encourage others to smile, in the face of serious adversity. His glorious record of service to his King and Country is known to all Wiltshire men. In our hearts we may store the one consolation - that were indeed the richer for his friendship, and the poorer for his passing.’ (Obituary refers). Sold with copied research, including several photographic images of recipient in uniform.
The scarce campaign group of three awarded Surgeon Major G. Shaw, Army Medical Department, who was the only British officer killed in action at Kassassin, 28 August 1882 - when he, ‘for the purpose of rendering assistance to a wounded man, voluntarily exposed himself to a scathing fire from the enemy. He was struck in the temple by a rifle bullet, which penetrated and lodged in the brain, and lived about three hours in an unconscious state’ Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Surgeon. G. Shaw. A.M. Dept.); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp (Surgn. Maj: G. Shaw. A.M.D.); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unnamed as issued, all with top riband bars, minor edge bruising, generally very fine or better (3) £800-£1,200 --- George Shaw served as a Surgeon Major with the Army Medical Department. He was the only British officer killed in action at the Battle of Kassassin, 28 August 1882. The following is recorded in The Lancet, 23 September 1882: ‘Very great regret is everywhere expressed at the sad death in action at Kassassin Lock of Surgeon Major Shaw. He had previously served with credit and great devotion in the Afghan campaign, and accompanied the advance of the first field hospital through the Khyber Pass in December, 1878. He was beloved by all who knew him, and endeared himself to the men of the regiments with which he served by his gentleness, his sympathy, and his devoted interest in his work. Every officer and man of the medical service of the army who knew him mourns for one of the most amiable of men who ever served in the army.’ Additional detail is provided in the Edinburgh Medical Journal of 1883: ‘The engagement at Kassassin, in the recent Anglo-Egyptian war, afforded two illustrations of the bravery of the army medical officers which are worth of being recorded, especially as in the English army the surgeons are classed as “non-combatants” and are persistently denied their proper rank and recognition. The only officer who was killed on this occasion was Surgeon Major George Shaw, who, for the purpose of rendering assistance to a wounded man, voluntarily exposed himself to a scathing fire from the enemy. He was struck in the temple by a rifle bullet, which penetrated and lodged in the brain, and lived about three hours in an unconscious state. So far as we have seen, the lay press has had no word of commendation for the men who, relegated officially to an inferior social and military position, without the stimulus of the tremendous excitement of the officers who make or mar the game of war, and with little or no prospect of sharing the honours in the event of success, thus coolly and unflinchingly risk and lose their lives in the performance of their duty.’ The action in which Shaw was killed was further described in The Nottinghamshire Guardian of 9 November 1882: ‘The Egyptian guns thundered unceasingly. The white coated infantry were pressing in, and storm of bullets swept the position to which our men were clinging. The slender entrenchments and defences which had been hastily constructed afforded scarce efficient shelter, for some of Arabi’s men were intentionally firing at a high elevation, and the bullets were dropping over. Thus Surgeon Major Shaw, while attending a wounded man behind the earthwork, was struck mortally by a shot which seemed to drop from above, piercing the brain.’ Sold with copied research, and image of recipient.
1914-15 Star (K.21273, H. Fox, Sto. 1., R.N.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (2) (K.21240 W. Brett. Sto.2. R.N.; J.17106 G. E. Sellick. A.B. R.N.) heavy digs to last with replacement suspension, therefore fair; the Star fine and the VM to Brett good very fine (3) £80-£100 --- H.M.S. Amphion At the start of the Great War, H.M.S. Amphion was leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, assigned to the Harwich Force, defending the eastern approaches to the English Channel, under the command of Captain Cecil H. Fox. In the morning of 5 August, Amphion and the 3rd Flotilla sortied into the North Sea to patrol the area between Harwich and the Dutch island of Terschelling for German activity. At 10:15 a ship in the black, buff, and yellow colours of the Great Eastern Railway’s steamers that plied between Harwich and the Hook of Holland was spotted. Fox sent the destroyers H.M.S. Lance and H.M.S. Landrail to investigate and shortly afterwards another destroyer reported that a trawler had seen a suspicious ship, ‘throwing things overboard, presumably mines’. H.M.S. Amphion led the flotilla to investigate and observed that the fleeing ship was deploying mines even then. At 10:45, Lance opened fire at a range of 4,400 yards (4,000 m). The target was S.M.S. Königin Luise, a former Hamburg-Heligoland excursion boat that had been converted to an auxiliary minelayer by the Germans. They had planned to mount a pair of 8.8-centimetre (3.5 in) guns on board, but they did not have the time to do so; her only armament was a pair of lighter guns and 180 mines. On the night of 4 August, she had departed Emden and headed into the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary, which she began to do at dawn. The fire from the destroyers was ineffective until Amphion closed to a range of 7,000 yards and began hitting the German ship at about 11:15. By noon, Königin Luise was sinking and the three British ships rescued 5 officers and 70 ratings. The flotilla proceeded onwards with their patrol until they reached the Dutch coast around 21:00 and turned for home. Fox was uncertain as to the locations of the mines laid by Königin Luise and laid a course that was seven nautical miles west of where he thought the mines were. He guessed wrongly and led his flotilla over the danger area. At 06:35 on 6 August, Amphion struck a mine that detonated underneath her bridge. The explosion set her forecastle on fire and broke the ship's keel. The destroyer H.M.S. Linnet attempted to tow the cruiser, but a deep crack across her upper deck showed that she was hogging badly and Fox ordered his crew to abandon ship. Shortly afterwards, her forward magazine exploded, throwing one 4-inch gun into the air that narrowly missed Linnet. One of Amphion’s shells burst on the deck of the destroyer Lark, killing two of her men and the only German prisoner rescued from the cruiser. Amphion then rapidly sank within 15 minutes of the explosion losing 1 officer and 131 ratings killed in the sinking, plus an unknown number of the crew rescued from Königin Luise. She was the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the Great War. Harold John Fox was born in Plymouth on 1 July 1893 and attested for the Royal Navy on 10 November 1903. He joined H.M.S. Amphion on 28 April 1914, and was present in her when when she sank on 6 August 1914. He afterwards served in H.M.S. Temeraire, which took part in the Battle of Jutland. Advanced Leading Stoker on 18 January 1919, he was still serving in 1932, in H.M.S. Lucia, when he was taken seriously ill. Admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, Gosport, Hampshire, he died, aged 39, on 21 May 1932 due to general peritonitis. William Brett was born in Exeter on 9 April 1895 and attested for the Royal Navy on 3 November 1913. He joined H.M.S. Amphion on 28 March 1914, and was killed when she struck a mine and sunk on 6 August 1914. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. George Edward Sellick was born in Topsham, Devon, on 20 April 1896 and attested as a Boy for the Royal Navy on 17 April 1912. He joined H.M.S. Amphion on 20 April 1914, and was present in her when when she sank on 6 August 1914. Sellick was later serving in H.M.S. Brisk, when, on 21 February 1917, about 10 nautical miles from St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight, in thick fog, whilst escorting the chartered troopship S.S. Mendi, which, having arrived at Plymouth from South Africa, was bound for Le Harve, France. The Mendi was carrying 823 men of the 5th Battalion of the South African Native Labour Force, many of whom had never seen the sea and very few of whom could actually swim. In the thick fog the Mendi was accidentally rammed and sunk by the large steamship S.S. Darro which was sailing at high speed in ballast for Argentina. Darro made no attempt to rescue survivors and it did not remain at the scene, although H.M.S. Brisk launched her boats which rescued around 200 men, although 616 South African soldiers and 30 crew members from the Mendi were lost. On 2 October 1917, he had a further lucky escape when Brisk was at sea off the north coast of Ireland to meet and escort convoy H.H. 24, which was inbound from America. After Brisk had joined the escort, the convoy was attacked by the German submarine U-79 which torpedoed the cruiser H.M.S. Drake which later sank with the loss of 19 lives. After this attack, as was normal procedure, the convoy dispersed and the remaining naval and auxiliary escorts including Brisk, were deployed to follow up the dispersed ships, some through Rathlin Sound and others in the North Channel. As the steamship Lugano entered the sound, she was torpedoed and sunk by U-79 and shortly afterwards, while making a sweep of the Sound, Brisk either struck a mine, or was torpedoed. The explosion broke Brisk in two and the bow section sank in the sound, whilst, of the 141 crew members, 32 lives were lost. The stern section remained afloat and was towed to Londonderry and on being fitted with a new bow Brisk later returned to service. He later served in the new destroyer H.M.S. Simoon from 11 March 1918. Post war, he continued to served until his discharge on 19 April 1926 and later died, aged 63, in Exeter in 1959.
Four: Chief Engine Room Artificer W. G. G. Clark, Royal Navy 1914-15 Star (M.730, W. G. G. Clark, E.R.A.2, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (M.730. W. G. G. Clark. E.R.A.2. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd issue, fixed suspension (M.730. W. G. G. Clark. C.E.R.A.1. H.M.S. Constance.) edge bruising and contact marks, nearly very fine (4) £80-£100 --- William George Garfield Clark was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on 19 February 1883 and attested for the 34th Company, Imperial Yeomanry on 18 January 1902, but was discharged ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’ just 67 days later. On the 26 November 1908 he attested for service with the Royal Navy and served during the Great War in H.M.S. Hydra, H.M.S. Dolphin and H.M.S. Adamant. Advanced Chief Engine Room Artificer First Class on 18 July 1929, he was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in June 1930, before being shore pensioned on 25 November 1930. He died, aged 89, on 25 March 1962. Sold with copied research.
Four: A Great War ‘Minelaying’ M.S.M. group of four awarded to Chief Engine Room Artificer First Class J. E. A. Harding, Royal Navy 1914-15 Star (269402. J. E. A. Harding. CERA.2., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (269402. J. E. A. Harding. CERA.1. R.N.); Royal Naval Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R. (269402. J. E. A. Harding, C.E.R.A. 1Cl. “Sandfly”. Mine laying. 1 July-11 Nov. 1918) contact marks, traces of lacquer, otherwise good very fine (4) £400-£500 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, March 2012. M.S.M. London Gazette 24 March 1919 James Edward Albert Harding was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire on 10 July 1876. A Fitter by occupation, he enlisted into the Royal Navy as an Acting Engine Room Artificer Fourth Class on 9 August 1898. He was confirmed in the rank in July 1900 whilst serving in H.M.S. Duke of Wellington. Serving in H.M.S. Hecla between June 1910 and April 1911, he was promoted to Engine Room Artificer First Class in January 1911 and Acting Chief Engine Room Artificer Second Class in April 1911. He was confirmed as Chief Engine Room Artificer Second Class in April 1912 whilst serving in H.M.S. Pathfinder. Harding served in the destroyer H.M.S. Sandfly throughout the Great War, the ship being latterly employed as a minelayer with the 20th Destroyer Flotilla in the North Sea. For his services as Chief Engine Room Artificer First Class aboard the ship in the last months of the war he was awarded the Royal Navy M.S.M. He was demobilised on 6 September 1920.
A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C., ‘Gallipoli - Third Battle of Krithia’ D.C.M., group of five awarded to Captain R. Hashim, Cheshire Regiment, late Manchester Regiment, who was also Mentioned in Despatches for his services with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (2478 Pte. R. Hashim. 1/6 Manch: Regt. -T.F.); 1914-15 Star (2478 Pte. R. Hashim. Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. R. Hashim.) mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £2,800-£3,400 --- M.C. London Gazette 19 March 1919: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and good leadership during operations near Jenlain on 3 and 4 November 1918. During an enemy withdrawal, he led his company in pursuit with great skill, and made ground and captured prisoners, pressing forward in advance of the Division on his left. Afterwards under intense shell fire, he re-organised his company, and led them in another attack with complete success.’ D.C.M. London Gazette 15 September 1915: ‘For conspicuous gallantry on 4 June 1915 on the Gallipoli Peninsula [during the Third Battle of Krithia]. He dug a shelter under very heavy fire, for an officer who was dangerously wounded, and then re-joined the firing line.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 5 November 1915. Randolph Hashim was born in Chorlton, Lancashire, in 1885, the son of Khalil Hashim, a Syrian-born Cotton Merchant with his own business, and was educated at Sale High School. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion Cheshire Regiment (Territorial Force) in November 1909, before resigning his commission in January 1914. Attesting for the 1st/6th Battalion Manchester Regiment (Territorial Force) shortly after the outbreak of war as a Private soldier, he landed with the Battalion at ‘V’ and ‘W’ Beaches, Gallipoli, on 6 May 1915. The Third Battle of Krithia, 4 June 1915 The attack began at noon on 4 June 1915, when the last bombardment ended. There was pause in bombardment to pull Ottomans back into trenches who were further decimated there by the renewal of the bombardment. Ottoman losses were around 6,000 on that first day. On the left, the attack of the Indian Brigade was quickly halted except along the Aegean shore where the 1/6th Battalion of the Gurkha Rifles managed to advance. The 14th Battalion of King George’s Own Ferozepore Sikhs Regiment, advancing along the floor of Gully Ravine, were almost wiped out, losing 380 men out of 514 and 80% of their officers. The 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment from the 29th Division, advancing along Fir Tree Spur alongside Gully Ravine, managed to advance but having lost contact with the Sikhs on their left were forced to defend along the bank of the ravine as well as to their front. Elsewhere, the 29th Division advance was held up with heavy casualties by Ottoman strongpoints that had survived the bombardment unscratched. The advance of the 42nd Division was, by Gallipoli standards, very successful, quickly reaching the first objective of the Ottoman trenches and moving beyond to advance a total of 1,000 yards. This attack was made by the 127th (Manchester) Brigade which broke through the Turkish 9th Division defences and captured 217 prisoners. The Royal Naval Division’s advance was led by the 2nd Naval Brigade which managed to reach and capture the Ottoman trenches. When the second wave the Collingwood Battalion attempted to continue the advance, they were caught in enfilade fire from Kereves Dere to the right where the French advance had failed. The battalion, one of the newly arrived reinforcements, was utterly annihilated and was never reformed. Further attempts to reach the second objective were successful, but the position was untenable, so within a couple of hours the Royal Naval Division units had retreated to their starting positions. With the main attack decided success for the 42nd Division in the centre, failure everywhere else Hunter-Weston considered how to deploy his reserves. If he was to exploit the success in the centre, there was the potential to set the Ottoman flanks to flight but also the danger of creating a vulnerable salient. He decided to reinforce the flanks and renew that attack; however, the French insisted they were unable to continue the offensive so any further advances by the Royal Naval Division in Achi Baba Nullah were abandoned. Further attacks along Gully Spur and Gully Ravine failed. At 16:00, Hunter-Weston ordered the troops to dig in and consolidate their positions; however, this coincided with the Ottoman reserves counter-attacking against the Manchester Brigade in the centre. Within one hour, the brigade was under attack from three sides so was eventually ordered to withdraw. By the end of the battle, their new front line was a mere 200-250 yards in front of their start line. For his gallantry during the Third Battle of Krithia, Hashim was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and was also Mentioned in Despatches by General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranearn Expeditionary Force. Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, on 8 September 1915, he subsequently served attached to the 9th Battalion on the Western Front, and was awarded the Military cross for his gallantry during the last week of hostilities. He died in Adlington, Cheshire, in 1942. Sold with a Cheshire Regiment cap badge and copied research.
Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Royalist 29 Decr 1812 (Henry Hackman.) a very minor edge bruise, otherwise good very fine and extremely rare £22,000-£26,000 --- Provenance: Fergus Gowans Collection (1947-71); Christie’s, April 1984. Royalist 29 Decr 1812 [3 clasps issued] - Alexander Brown, coxswain, also with Syria clasp, medal named as gunner (Dix Noonan Webb, February 2016, £38,000); Henry Hackman, able seaman; Lewis Rees, midshipman. Henry Hackman is confirmed on the roll as an able seaman for the capture of La Ruse by the Royalist on 29 December 1812. At 11 p.m. on the night of 29 December 1812, the eighteen-gun brig Royalist, Commander George Downie, cruising in the Channel off Hythe, fell in with, and after a short action captured, the French privateer lugger La Ruse, sixteen guns, with a crew of sixty-five men. The prize had her main mast shot away, and one of her crew killed, and another wounded, before she struck her colours. She was a new vessel on her first cruise and had made no captures. Commander Downie, who was promoted for this action, was killed when in command of a British squadron on Lake Champlain during the battle of Plattsburg in September 1814.
Three: Mr E. F. Thomas, C.S.I., C.I.E., Indian Civil Service, District Magistrate of Malabar during the Moplah Rebellion there in 1921-22 British War Medal 1914-20 (Lt. E. F. Thomas.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Malabar 1921-22 (E. F. Thomas. Dist. Mgte.); Volunteer Force Long Service Medal (India & the Colonies), G.V.R. (Trooper E. F. Thomas. S. Prov. M. Rif. A.F.I.) mounted as worn, toned, nearly extremely fine (3) £500-£700 --- Edward Francis Thomas was born on 30 June 1880, and was educated at St Paul’s School and Trinity College, Oxford. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1903 and arrived in Madras the following year. Passing through the usual stages of assistant collector and magistrate, he was temporarily attached to the Indian Police; Secretary, Board of Revenue, Madras, 1915; joined Indian Army Reserve and was attached to Army H.Q., India, 1917; collector and district magistrate, Malabar, 1919, and held this position when the Moplah rebellion broke out on 21 August 1921 (created C.I.E. 1922); Director of Industries, Madras, 1922-26; joined Board of Revenue, 1931; First Member Board of Revenue, 1935-38. He was created C.S.I. in 1935 and retired in 1938, living in Durban, South Africa, until his death on 10 August 1954. Sold with extract from The History of the Madras Police covering the significant part played by District Magistrate Thomas during the Moplah rebellion, and specifically with regard to the murder of Assistant Superintendent of Police C. B. Lancaster (whose medal was sold in these rooms on 18 September 2014).
Pair: Private William Woodley, 7th Hussars Military General Service 1793-1814, 2 clasps, Orthes, Toulouse (William Woodley, 7th Light Dragoons.); Waterloo 1815 (William Woodley, 7th Regiment Hussars) fitted with replacement silver straight bar suspension, the first with light contact marks, otherwise good very fine, the second with edge bruising and contact marks, fine (2) £3,000-£4,000 --- William Woodley was born in the Parish of Latney, Oxford, and attested for the 7th Hussars at Reading on 11 October 1809, aged 20. He ‘served in Spain and France in the year 1814, was at Waterloo and with the Army of Occupation in France till the year 1818.’ He was discharged due to chronic rheumatism on 9 August 1832, with 24 years 303 days service, including 2 years for Waterloo, where he served in Captain Verner’s Troop. His conduct was that ‘of a good and efficient soldier.’ Sold with copied discharge papers.
An unusual Second World War O.B.E. group of six awarded to Wing Commander G. W. Houghton, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was an official R.A.F. war correspondent in the Middle East and afterwards the Officer in Charge of the Public Relations Section of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in North-West Europe 1944-45: his earlier experiences in the Western Desert are recorded in his book They Flew Through Sand The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, with named card box of issue, addressed to ‘G/Cpt. G. W. Houghton, Spinney Nook, Broadway, Letchworth, Herts.’, mounted court-style as worn, good very fine and better (6) £500-£700 --- Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, March 2010. O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1945. The original Recommendation states: ‘Group Captain G. W. Houghton has been in charge of the Public Relations Section of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force for almost the entire period since the landings in Normandy on ‘D’ Day and has been the greatest assistance in the building up of the Inter-Allied Public Relations Organisation. He has, more recently, been the main link with the Air Ministry on this work, and has personally established an extremely efficient organisation with the units in the field. His tireless work and loyal support, especially during the landings in Normandy, have aided the maintenance of the very standards attained by his section.’ M.I.D. London Gazettes 1 January 1943 (Squadron Leader); 17 September 1943 (Acting Wing Commander). George William Houghton was born in Perth, Scotland in September 1905 and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in April 1940, where his pre-war qualifications as a journalist were quickly put to use. Posted to the Middle East as an official R.A.F. war correspondent, he visited many units and locations in the Western Desert, and came into contact with numerous personalities of the Desert Air Force, “Imshi” Mason among them. He also regularly came under fire during enemy raids. In addition to his powers of observation and gifts as a writer, Houghton was also a competent artist, and a number of his drawings and sketches were reproduced in his popular wartime title They Flew Through Sand - soon after the war he dramatised one of the incidents described in the book for the B.B.C., and the lead actor, Kenneth More (fresh from active service in the Royal Navy) was praised for his performance by the Royal Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Houghton was twice Mentioned in Despatches for his services in North Africa and had attained the acting rank of Wing Commander by the time he returned home from the Mediterranean theatre. Next employed as Officer in Charge of the Public Relations Section of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in North-West Europe 1944-45, a role that included him witnessing the Normandy landings, Houghton ended the War in the rank of Acting Group Captain and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He finally relinquished his commission in the R.A.F.V.R. in February 1954, retaining the rank of Group Captain. In later life he was an avid golfer and cartoonist, who drew over 300 cartoons a year, and also wrote over 38 humours books as well as numerous short stories. Sold with the recipient’s two Mentioned in Despatches Certificates in envelope addressed to ‘Wing Commander G. W. Houghton, O.B.E., National Liberal Club, Whitehall Place, S.W.1’; the recipient’s passport; a framed and glazed portrait photograph of recipient in uniform; a copied photograph of the recipient in North Africa, 1942; two copies of They Flew Through Sand, The Notes and Sketches of an R.A.F. Officer in the Western Desert, by George W. Houghton, the first the 1942 original; the second a 1991 reprint; a copy of ‘The Adventures of a Gadabout’, by George Houghton; a copy of ‘How to be a Golf Addict’, by George Houghton; and copied research.
1914 Star (9904 Pte. F. J. Mooring. 2/ Oxf: & Bucks: L.I.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (5711 Pte. P. A. Heady. Oxf. & Bucks. L.I.) good very fine (2) £80-£100 --- Frederick James Mooring (also recorded as Mooren) was born in Sutton Courtney, Berkshire, in 1891 and attested for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, serving with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 14 August 1914 (also entitled to a clasp to his 1914 Star). He was killed in action on 25 September 1915, on the first day of the Battle of Loos. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, France. Percy Arthur Heady was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire and attested for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He served with them during the Great War on the Western Front before transferring to the Lincolnshire Regiment, and was killed in action whilst serving with the 10th Battalion on 10 June 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.
Pair: Police Constable W. Goodman, Metropolitan Police Coronation 1902, Metropolitan Police, bronze (P.C. W. Goodman. K. Div.); Coronation 1911, Metropolitan Police (P.C. W. Goodman.) mounted as worn, edge bruise to first and this somewhat polished, therefore nearly very fine; the second better (2) £50-£70
South Africa Medal for War Service, with City of Durban Civilian Protective Services Certificate named to ‘Althea F. Christian’, and accompanying Mayor’s letter, nearly extremely fine £30-£40 --- Sold with an intriguing embroidered linen square, embroidered with the flags of the United Kingdom and the Union of South Africa in the middle, and the names of various Second War servicemen and personalities around; and the recipient’s First Aid armband.
Three: Able Seaman E. Cunnah, Royal Navy, who was one of just 20 survivors from the sinking of H.M.S. Queen Mary at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916; he was later killed during the Second World War, whilst serving as a Firewatcher in the London Blitz 1914-15 Star (J.20438., E. Cunnah, Ord. R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J.20438 E. Cunnah. A.B. R.N.) contact marks, nearly very fine (3) £160-£200 --- Ernest Cunnah was born in Wandsworth, London on 12 June 1897 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 16 September 1912. On 16 September 1913 he joined the battlecruiser H.M.S. Queen Mary, and served in her during the Great War, first at Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. Advanced Able Seaman on 10 March 1916, he served at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, and, despite sustaining splinter wounds to the inside of his left foot, his right knee and front right thigh, was one of just 20 crew members to survive her sinking with the lost of 1,266 lives. After being rescued and landed at Rosyth by H.M.S. Laurel the following day, on 26 June 1916, a naval doctor issued him with a Certificate of Hurt and Wounds. He next served afloat in H.M.S. Iron Duke from 4 November 1916 and later participated in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. He was discharged on 11 June 1927. During the Second World War, he served as a Wandsworth Council firewatcher and on the night of 19 February 1944, was on duty at the Tate and Lyle Factory in Raft Road, Wandsworth, when he was killed in an explosion during an air raid. His name is recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission among the civilian war dead, and, when killed, he was found to be carrying in his pocket a very creased photograph of himself in Royal Navy uniform and his wound certificate. He is buried in Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough Cemetery, London.
The fascinating M.B.E. and A.G.S. Nandi pair awarded to Mr P. H. Clarke, a civilian who was attached to the 3rd Kings African Rifles for the operations in Nandi country - at the time he was the only European trader at Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, where he ran the company store for Boustead, Ridley & Co. In addition he was also the Town Clerk. When vessels were required to transport the Sudanese troops for the oncoming campaign, Clarke, on behalf of his employers supplied two dhows. Clarke was no stranger to adventure - ‘he was of the pioneer school, the members of which went after business on their flat feet. When he first reached East Africa, ivory was the main item of trade, and again and again he trekked up to Uganda to bring down caravans of the precious commodity. That his camps were sometimes raided and his own life endangered did not divert him from his purpose’ The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Civil) Member’s 1st type, breast badge, silver, hallmarks for London ‘1919’, in Garrard & Co. Ltd. case of issue; Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Nandi 1905-06 (P. H. Clarke. Nandi F.F.) generally very fine or better (2) £800-£1,000 --- M.B.E. London Gazette 27 June 1919: Unofficial Member of the Legislative Council, East Africa Protectorate, for services on behalf of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John. Percival Herbert Clarke and his colourful life in Africa is recorded in his obituary which appeared in East Africa, 1934: ‘The sudden death in Mombasa at the age of 62 of Mr Percival Herbert Clarke will not surprise those friends who knew the serious state of his health. For a long time his heart had caused more anxiety to others than he allowed it to cause him and the news which he received a month ago of the death in this country of the daughter to whom he was so deeply attached must certainly have loosened his hold on life. “PH” as he was known to all pre-War Kenyans, and to many of the post-War generation was born in Bermondsey on the last day of 1872, and educated at the Royal Merchant Seaman’s Orphanage... At the age of 18 he went to S. Africa, from which he returned a few years later. In 1898 he sailed for Mombasa to join the firm of Boustead, Ridley & Co. on the liquidation of which four years later he began trading on his own account in Kisumu - of which he used to recall with mock solemnity that he was its first Town Clerk (honorary). Then followed years of strenuous effort, the fruits of which he reinvested in his business. But he lost everything by shipwreck on Victoria Nyanza when returning from Uganda in a dhow laden with ivory and other goods. For a while he organised a gold prospecting syndicate, but when that failed he restarted trading in Kisumu. In 1909 he amalgamated with Boustead Bros. and established his headquarters in Mombasa as principal of Boustead and Clarke, which has for many years been one of the best known names in EA commerce. “PH’s” record of public service was outstanding. At one time he was a member of no fewer than 17 different Commissions and Committees sitting in Kenya; and he was never a member merely in name, for, possessed of decided views and wide experience, he always contributed something to the subject under consideration. He had been an unofficial member of the Kenya War Council, the Kenya Legco and the Inter-Colonial Railway Advisory Council; he was the first President of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of EA, thrice President of the Mombasa Chamber of Commerce; and an original member of the Mombasa War Committee, the Mombasa Harbour Board, and the Mombasa District Committee.... He was of the pioneer school, the members of which went after business on their flat feet. When he first reached EA, ivory was the main item of trade, and again and again he trekked up to Uganda to bring down caravans of the precious commodity. That his camps were sometimes raided and his own life endangered did not divert him from his purpose....’ Clarke was one of a number of civilians attached to the 3rd Kings African Rifles as part of the Nandi Field Force for operations in Nandi country between October 1905 - July 1906. He was no stranger to conflict, and indeed had been attacked during his first year in East Africa: ‘December 1898. It was unfortunately necessary to send a punitive expedition into the Kivosoi location of the Kikuyu because of an unprovoked attack by the natives on Mr. P. Clarke of Messrs Boustead, Ridley & Co.’ (John Ainsworth and the Making of Kenya, by R. Maxon refers) At the time of the Nandi operations Clarke was the only European trader at Kisumu on the shores of Lake Victoria, where he ran the company store. In addition he was also the Town Clerk. When vessels were required to transport the Sudanese troops for the oncoming campaign, Clarke on behalf of his employers supplied two dhows. He is also remembered in Kenya from Chartered Company to Crown Colony by C. W. Hobley: ‘While we were living in the old station of Kisumu many incidents occurred which stay in my mind... At Mumias I had a small piano which I had brought up the coast with great labour, part of the way by porters and part of the way by bullock cart. When I moved to Kisumu it was packed in its case, and there it lay in store unused. The representative of a well-known Mombasa firm, Mr P. H. Clarke, offered to buy it for resale in Uganda. I agreed, and left one day for Entebbe in a sailing dhow with the piano as cargo. About a week later he staggered into my office in an exhausted state and told me that a couple of days after leaving Kisumu they had encountered a bad storm on the lake. It was night and, after being buffeted for some hours, the dhow sank and the occupants were precipitated into the water. Clarke swam about for a little and bumped up against the piano, which was floating, and presently the native skipper also held onto the case; the rest of the crew were never seen again. They hung on and floated about until daylight, when they discovered that they were a mile or two from an island. Eventually they reached it and landed from their novel craft. Native fishermen approached the island, but at first paddled away in terror at seeing a white man there. Eventually they returned, however, took off the castaways and landed them on the mainland. Here a friendly chief, Ugada Ndiek, gave them food and shelter, and as soon as Clarke had recovered strength, fitted him out with some old boots and a hat, and then he marched back to Kisumu. It was a trying ordeal for a European to be precipitated into the lake at the dead of night and to float about in the sun for the best part of the following day with no hat and clad in nothing but a thin suit of pyjamas. He suffered from shock for a week or two, but soon recovered.’ Sold with copied research.
Pair: Sergeant Alexander Murdock, 3rd Foot Guards Military General Service 1793-1814, 6 clasps, Egypt, Busaco, Fuentes D’Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca, Vittoria (A. Murdoch, Serjt. 3rd Ft. Gds.); Waterloo 1815 (Serj. Alex. Murdock, 2nd Batt. 3rd Reg. Guards.) fitted with rather crude replacement steel clip and ring suspension, the second with edge bruising and contact pitting, naming weak in parts, therefore fine, the first with light nicks and marks, otherwise good very fine (2) £3,600-£4,400 --- Alexander Murdock was born at ‘Barrynry’ [Barony], Glasgow, and enlisted for the 3rd Foot Guards at Glasgow on 18 August 1800, aged 19, for unlimited service. He served 21 years 85 days, including 2 years for Waterloo, and was discharged in London on 10 November 1819, ‘having Rheumatic Pains’. He had served 9 years 4 months as a private, 5 years 1 month as corporal, and 10 years 10 month in the rank of sergeant, conduct ‘Good.’ Sold with copied discharge papers and M.G.S. medal roll entry confirming all 6 clasps.
Four: Petty Officer (Telegraphist) S. H. Dawe, Royal Navy, who was killed on 6 August 1914, when H.M.S. Amphion struck a mine off the Thames estuary and sank with the loss of 132 men killed; she was the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the Great War Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, no clasp (185605 S. H. Dawe, Ord. Sig., H.M.S. Magicienne); Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Jubaland (185605 S. H. Dawe, Ord. Sig., H.M.S. Magicienne); Victory Medal 1914-19 ((185605 S. H. Dawe, P.O. Tel. R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (185605 S. H. Dawe, P.O. (Tel) H.M.S. Amphion) toned, extremely fine (4) £300-£400 --- Duplicates of the Q.S.A. and A.G.S., and most likely the Naval L.S. & G.C., were issued to his widow on 26 March 1915. Samuel Henry Dawe was born at Aubyn, Devonport, Devon, on 20 March 1880, and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class from Greenwich School on 8 September 1895. He served as Ordinary Signalman aboard Magicienne from November 1897 to June 1901, seeing service off South Africa and Somaliland. He became a Petty Officer (Telegraphist) in November 1907, and joined the newly commissioned scout cruiser Amphion on 2 April 1913. By the start of the War Amphion was leader of the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, assigned to the Harwich Force, defending the eastern approaches to the English Channel, under the command of Captain Cecil H. Fox. In the morning of 5 August, Amphion and the 3rd Flotilla sortied into the North Sea to patrol the area between Harwich and the Dutch island of Terschelling for German activity. At 10:15 a ship in the black, buff, and yellow colours of the Great Eastern Railway's steamers that plied between Harwich and the Hook of Holland was spotted. Fox sent the destroyers Lance and Landrail to investigate and shortly afterwards another destroyer reported that a trawler had seen a suspicious ship, 'throwing things overboard, presumably mines'. Amphion led the flotilla to investigate and observed that the fleeing ship was deploying mines even then. At 10:45, Lance opened fire at a range of 4,400 yards (4,000 m). The target was S.M.S. Königin Luise, a former Hamburg-Heligoland excursion boat that had been converted to an auxiliary minelayer by the Germans. They had planned to mount a pair of 8.8-centimetre (3.5 in) guns on board, but they did not have the time to do so; her only armament was a pair of lighter guns and 180 mines. On the night of 4 August, she had departed Emden and headed into the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary, which she began to do at dawn. The fire from the destroyers was ineffective until Amphion closed to a range of 7,000 yards and began hitting the German ship at about 11:15. By noon, Königin Luise was sinking and the three British ships rescued 5 officers and 70 ratings. The flotilla proceeded onwards with their patrol until they reached the Dutch coast around 21:00 and turned for home. Fox was uncertain as to the locations of the mines laid by Königin Luise and laid a course that was seven nautical miles west of where he thought the mines were. He guessed wrongly and led his flotilla over the danger area. At 06:35, Amphion struck a mine that detonated underneath her bridge. The explosion set her forecastle on fire and broke the ship's keel. The destroyer Linnet attempted to tow the cruiser, but a deep crack across her upper deck showed that she was hogging badly and Fox ordered his crew to abandon ship. Shortly afterwards, her forward magazine exploded, throwing one 4-inch gun into the air that narrowly missed Linnet. One of Amphion's shells burst on the deck of the destroyer Lark, killing two of her men and the only German prisoner rescued from the cruiser. Amphion then rapidly sank within 15 minutes of the explosion losing 1 officer and 131 ratings killed, including Dawe, in the sinking, plus an unknown number of the crew rescued from Königin Luise. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Five: Sergeant H. S. Sinfield, Royal Engineers, later Buckinghamshire Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light infantry 1914 Star, with clasp (27559 Sjt. H. S. Sinfield. R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (27559. Sjt. H. S. Sinfield. R.E.); Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, G.V.R. (242. Sjt. H. S. Sinfield. Bucks: Bn: Oxf: & Bucks: L.I.); Imperial Service Medal, G.V.R., Circular issue, 2nd ‘Coronation robes’ issue (Henry Samuel Sinfield) first four mounted as worn, the last loose on original mounting pin, generally very fine and better (5) £140-£180 --- Henry Samuel Sinfield was mobilised for service during the Great War, serving on the Western Front with the Postal Section, Royal Engineers, from 22 August 1914. His entry in The National Roll of the Great War mentions his service during the retreat from Mons and at the Battles of the Marne, Ypres and Givenchy, before he being wounded at Loos in 1915 and invalided home. He returned to his unit in France the following year and served until the end of the war, and afterwards, in the army of occupation in Cologne. Discharged in December 1919, he then worked as a sorting clerk and Telegraphist in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, and was awarded the Imperial Service Medal upon his retirement (London Gazette 24 November 1931). Sold with copied research.
A scarce Great War ‘Salonika’ D.C.M. group of five awarded to Private E. S. D. Moore, Nottinghamshire Yeomanry, for his gallantry and coolness when sent out as a lone decoy to lure into an ambush a patrol of Germany cavalry on 17 April 1916; Moore was mounted on a specially chosen Charger in order to outpace the enemy should an attempt have been made to capture him Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (989 Pte. E. S. D. Moore. Notts: Yeo:); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, unofficial rivets between state and date clasps (735 Pte. E. S. D. Moore. 10th. Notts Coy. Imp: Yeo:); 1914-15 Star (989 Pte. E. S. A. [sic] Moore. Sher. Rang.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (989 Pte. E. S. A. [sic] Moore. Notts. Yeo.) generally good very fine (5) £1,400-£1,800 --- D.C.M. London Gazette 14 November 1916: ‘For gallantry and coolness when sent out to try and lure a party of the enemy into an ambush. He behaved in a remarkably plucky manner when in very close touch with the enemy.’ M.I.D. London Gazette 25 September 1916 (Salonika). Edmund Schneider Dodwell Moore was born at Honington, Lincolnshire, on 22 April 1874, the son of the Reverend Henry Dodwell Moore, Vicar of St Wilfrid’s, Honington, and following the outbreak of the Boer War attested for the Imperial Yeomanry at Retford, Nottinghamshire, on 10 January 1900. He served with the 10th (Sherwood Rangers) Company, 3rd Battalion in South Africa from 29 January 1900 to 9 July 1901, and was present at the actions at Lindley and Heartebeestefontein. He was discharged at his own request on 8 August 1901. Following the outbreak of the Great War, Moore re-joined his old unit, the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry; the Sherwood Rangers, along with the South Nottinghamshire Hussars and the Derbyshire Yeomanry formed the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Mounted Brigade and embarked for Egypt in April 1915, first entering the Balkan theatre of War on 8 August 1915. Moore served with them in Gallipoli from August to October 1915 (dismounted), before returning with the unit to Egypt where they were reunited with their horses. They then went to Macedonia (Salonika) in February 1916 where the brigade was re-designated as the 7th Mounted Brigade. It was whilst serving in Salonika that Moore was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallant conduct and coolness on 17 April 1917 when he volunteered to act as a lone decoy to lure into an ambush a patrol of German cavalry that had been observed in nearby woods. An accomplished rider, his charger had been specially chosen to outpace the enemy in the event an attempt was made to capture him. In further recognition of his gallant conduct, Moore’s name was brought to notice in General A. J. Murray’s Despatch dated 13 July 1916. The following account of the action was later published in ‘The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry in the Great War 1914-1918’ by Major H. Tallents: ‘At 5 a.m. on 17 April 1916, three Squadrons of German Cavalry came round the end of Lake Doiran towards Pateros, supported by a considerable force of infantry; one of their squadrons came on towards Gola, their right flank patrol passing within a few yards of Sergeant Hethershaw and his troop who were lying concealed in some scrub and had been told not to fire, and approached the position where B Squadron were concealed. We disclosed only a small patrol with Private Moore as its point riding a specially selected horse which would be difficult for the Germans to overtake. The Germans were very cautious and approached our patrol very slowly, while Moore waited for them in the hopes that some at least of the Germans would chase him and be led into the trap; unfortunately they would not do this though they were within speaking distance of him, so after a little conversation with them during which they told him to “go away, you bloody fool” (his remarks to them are not recorded), he rode slowly away to one side leaving the front of B Squadron unmasked. The Germans stood in a bunch looking towards B Squadron’s position and then turned to retire; the moment they did so it was evident that they would not be caught in the trap so B Squadron and the machine-guns opened fire. Unfortunately both the machine-guns - which were about 12 years old - jammed after a few rounds and consequently we only succeeded in wounding seven of their men and seven horses, according to the enemy intelligence reports obtained later’. Following the Armistice Moore returned to farming. A keen huntsman he followed both the Belvoir and Blankney Hunts and latterly maintained several fox coverts. He is recorded in the 1939 Register residing at Brant Broughton where he is described as a retired farmer and ‘Air Raid Warden ARP’ having been appointed Chief ARP Warden, Brandt Broughton. He died in Newark District Hospital following a cycling accident on 27 April 1949. Sold with copied research.
The mounted group of five miniature dress medals attributed to Captain E. I. M. Barrett, Commissioner of Police, Shanghai, late Lancashire Fusiliers The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, C.I.E., Companion’s 2nd type badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with top silver-gilt brooch bar; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 4 clasps, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Rel. of Ladysmith, Transvaa; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902; Shanghai Municipal Police Long Service Medal, silver; War Medal 1939-45, the first four mounted as worn, the War Medal loose, generally very fine and better (5) £300-£400 --- C.I.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919: ‘For meritorious services connected with the War.’ For the recipient’s full-sized awards, see Lot 140.
Five: Corporal G. Phillips, Royal Field Artillery Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Driefontein, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast (74933 Gr. G. Phillips, 84th Batt. R.F.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (74933 Gnr: G. Phillips. R.F.A.); 1914-15 Star (36927 Gnr. G. Phillips. R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals (36927 Cpl. G. Phillips. R.A.) mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £180-£220 --- George Phillips was born in the Parish of Bishops Combe, near Sherborne, Dorset, and attested for the Royal Artillery at Sherborne on 16 September 1889, aged 19. He served with the Royal Field Artillery in South Africa in 1899 and was discharged at Weedon on 21 August 1902, on completion of his first period of service. He re-enlisted on 7 September 1914, for the Royal Field Artillery and also served in the Wiltshire Regiment and Labour Corps. He was transferred to ‘Z’ Reserve on 15 March 1919. Sold with parchment certificates of discharge (1902), transfers to Army Reserve (1897 and 1902), and certificate on transfer to ‘Z’ Reserve on Demobilization (1919), together with named card box of issue for 1914-15 Star.
Family Group: Three: Second Lieutenant N. S. Scott, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who was killed in action at Ypres on 23 April 1915 1914-15 Star (2.Lieut. N. S. Scott. K.O. Sco. Bord.); British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. N. S. Scott); Memorial Plaque (Norman Sawers Scott); Memorial Scroll ‘2nd. Lt. Norman Sawers Scott, K.O.S.Bs.’; together with a silver K.O.S.B. cap badge and a miniature coloured portrait of the recipient, extremely fine Pair: Second Lieutenant I. A. S. Scott, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, on which date his battalion suffered over 550 casualties British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. I. A. S. Scott); Memorial Plaque (Ian Archibald Sawers Scott); Memorial Scroll ‘2/Lieut. Ian Archibald Sawers Scott, K.O. Scottish Borderers’; together with a miniature coloured portrait of the recipient, extremely fine Three: Captain W. E. S. Scott, Royal Army Medical Corps British War and Victory Medals (Capt. W. E. Sawers Scott); British Red Cross Society Medal for War Service, unnamed as issued, with integral top riband bar; together with two bronze R.A.M.C. cap badges, extremely fine The entire lot all mounted and housed in an impressive and heavy tooled leather-bound and initialled triptych-style display frame, this in extremely good condition (lot) £1,800-£2,200 --- Norman Sawers Scott was commissioned second lieutenant in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers on 31 October 1914, and served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 27 November 1914. He was killed in action at Ypres on 23 April 1915, aged 19, and is buried in Bedford House Cemetery, France. Ian Archibald Sawers Scott, brother of the above, was commissioned second lieutenant in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers on 1 June 1915, and served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 1916. He was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, aged 19, whilst attached to the 1st Battalion, on which dated the battalion was involved in the attack in front of Beaumont-Hamel - swept by intense enemy machine gun fire the battalion suffered total casualties that day of 552. He is buried in Knightsbridge Cemetery, Mesnil-Martinsaet, France. William Edward Sawers Scott, M.D., father of the above, served with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Great War on the Western Front from March 1918, and survived the war, being discharged on 23 March 1919. He died on 31 January 1923, aged 62.
The important and scarce ‘North Nigeria’ campaign group of four awarded to Colonel W. H. O’Neill, Royal Artillery and West Africa Frontier Force, who commanded the operations against the forces of Bida and Kontagora, July - December 1900, culminating in leading a brave but reckless attack which ‘advanced right up to the walls of Bida, entered the town with a few men and fought the Emir Adudekeri in a hand to hand fight. O’Neill was badly wounded and only escaped through the timely arrival of his men.’ The rescue was carried out by Lieutenant H. A. ‘Bertie’ Porter, 19th Hussars, ‘a thruster who has been noted in the Gazette for a brevet on obtaining his troop for a mad show at Bida when his C.O. got the sack for singeing the Emir’s whiskers. He nearly got hacked to pieces, but Porter got him out. Porter should have got a V.C. and he might have, had not the whole thing been contrary to orders. But it put an end to the insolence on the part of the Emir.’ Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Tel-El-Kebir (Lieut: W. H. O’Neill. F/1. B.. R.A.); Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, N. Nigeria (Major W. H. O’Neill, R.F.A.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut: Col: W. H. O’Neill, 62/Bty., R.F.A.); Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, unnamed as issued, light contact marks overall, generally very fine (4) £1,800-£2,200 --- William Heremon O’Neill was ‘born in Auckland and was the fourth son of the late Hon. James O’Neill, who was a member of the old Auckland Provincial Council, and later sat in the first Parliament of New Zealand as a member for Auckland City in 1854-55, and member for the northern division of Auckland from 1861 to 1868.’ (New Zealand Herald, 9 June 1925 refers) O’Neill was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, and a letter he wrote to a relation in Lincoln was published in the Lincolnshire Chronicle, 22 September 1882, and gives the following: ‘Ismailia, Sept. 8, 1882 - We start for Kassassin tomorrow, and expect to attack Tel-El-Kebir on Tuesday or Wednesday. After Tel-El-Kebir is taken we go on to Cairo in all probability. I hope Arabi won’t sack Cairo before we arrive. This climate is not half bad, although they tell me it is a good deal worse at the front; however, it agrees with me very well, and I am not likely to knock under. The ammunition, too, is always put in a safe place, so it is a sort of picnic with me. I regret to say that our horses are dying by the dozen. Ismailia is filled with representatives of every nation under the sun. The natives are coming back by degrees; they all bolted when we took the place. I have lots to do, as one of my two junior subalterns is seedy.’ O’Neill was promoted captain in 1885, and advanced to major in October 1893. He was seconded for service with the West African Field Force in September 1899. O’Neill was placed in command of a force for operations against the forces of Bida and Kontagora (North Nigeria), July - December 1900: ‘In July, Lugard [Sir Frederick, High Commissioner] received information that the Sarkin Sudan Emir of Kontagora, and the Etsu Nupe, Emir of Bida, were planning to massacre the small garrison that he had left at Wushishi, the site of his projected new capital of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate. The bulk of the West African Frontier Force was away on active service in Ashanti, but Lugard in person at once hurried up to Wushishi from Jebba, bringing reinforcements under Major O’Neill, Royal Artillery. The situation was indeed serious. The village heads of Wushishi had been assassinated and the West African Frontier Force soldiers were being attacked virtually on the threshold of their camp. Ngwamachi, the notorious Emir of Kontagora, and the Emir of Bida, had sent messengers to Ilorin, urging the Emir to join in a rising and expel the white man whose troops, it was rumoured, had been exterminated in Ashanti. O’Neill, with Lieutenant [H. A. ‘Bertie’] Porter [whose medals were offered for sale in these rooms as part of the A. A. Upfill-Brown Collection in December 1991] as his second-in-command, patrolled the countryside for some 20 miles round Wushishi, keeping the Nupe and Kontagora cavalry at their distance by a series of masterly skirmishes. A number of small military forts, such as those at Wushishi, Wuya and Maraba, were erected as soon as the rains ceased. In November O’Neill’s force defeated a band of Kontagora levies at Dabb in Egbake district, north of Kutigi, and, crossing the Kaduna, they routed the Bida horsemen. With immense gallantry O’Neill entered Bida town, accompanied by a mere handful of troopers, on December 19th, and endeavoured to kidnap the Emir. Badly wounded, O’Neill escaped only by the greatest of luck.’ (The Second Battle of Bida article by A. H. M. Kirke-Greene refers) Lugard’s despatch for the operations, praises both the gallantry of O’Neill and Porter but stresses that the former had exceeded his orders and was fortunate to escape with his life: ‘On the 19th December Sergeant H. Edwards defeated with heavy loss a force estimated at 100 horse and 700 foot. On the 15th and 16th Major W. H. O’Neill, Royal Artillery, and Lieutenant H. A. Porter, 19th Hussars attacked and defeated the Bida raiders, who are said to have lost 50 killed at least. On the night of the 17th he marched on the hostile forces again and surprised them at dawn. He estimated the enemy at 500 horse and 1,000 foot, and states that they suffered at least 200 casualties. His own force consisted of himself, Lieutenant Porter, Sergeant Edwards, eight mounted and fifty dismounted men. Again on December 18th he advanced towards Bida with Lieutenant Porter and 13 mounted and 25 dismounted men, driving parties of enemy before him. These he pursued up to the walls of Bida and actually entered the town with his handful of men and endeavoured to seize the Emir with his own hand. In a desperate hand to hand encounter he was badly wounded, but the opportune arrival of some of his men [under Porter, for which he was promoted.] enabled him to put the Fulanis to flight and to effect a retirement, during which his party was much harassed. The other casualties, besides Major O’Neill himself, being one man severely and two slightly wounded. Major O’Neill had received distinct and positive orders not to approach too close to Bida, still less to enter it, and I consider that a grave disaster was only averted partly by good fortune and partly by the resource and ability shown by Lieutenant Porter.... There is no doubt that this most adventurous exploit created an immense impression on the people of Bida.’ In 1902 O’Neill was appointed to the ‘command of the 18th Imperial Yeomanry at Ficksburg, Orange River Colony, at present with Col. Ternan’s column. The men do not belong to any particular county, but are picked men and called “Sharp Shooters.” (Lincolnshire Chronicle, 7 March 1902 refers). He subsequently retired, and died as a result of an accident whilst staying at the Mansion House, Kawau Island, in June 1925: ‘When war broke out in 1914 he went Home and offered his services to the Imperial Army, being accepted for home service. In recent years he has resided at Tauranga and Devenport.’ (Obituary refers) Colonel O’Neill is buried in O’Neill’s Point Cemetery, Auckland. Sold with copied research.
Pair: P. A. Low, Rhodesian and Zimbabwean Forces, who was later killed during a toll booth heist, whilst working as a security guard Rhodesia, General Service Medal (730298 Pte. P. A. Low); Zimbabwe, Independence Medal 1980 (14930) mounted as worn, the Zimbabwe medal mounted first, good very fine (2) £50-£70 --- P. A. Low served in the Rhodesian, and afterwards, Zimbabwean forces. Later in civilian life, whilst working as security guard, he was killed during a heist at a toll booth, outside Moor River, Natal, South Africa.
A well-documented Second War ‘Arnhem’ ‘Immediate’ D.F.C. group of seven awarded to Battle of Britain Hurricane pilot Squadron Leader B. P. Legge, Royal Air Force, who served with 601 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, and saw further service in North Africa; as a Dakota pilot on D-Day; and at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden, where his was Dakota was badly hit and both he and his second pilot were severely wounded: despite the loss of blood he remained at the controls and effected a safe landing, for which gallantry he was awarded an Immediate D.F.C. Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1945, on original mounting pin; 1939-45 Star, 1 clasp, Battle of Britain; Air Crew Europe Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, generally good very fine and better (7) £5,000-£7,000 --- D.F.C. London Gazette 2 February 1945: ‘This officer has completed much operational flying and throughout has displayed efficiency and zeal of a high standard. One evening in September, 1944, he piloted an aircraft on a mission involving the dropping of supplies to our ground forces near Arnhem. When approaching the target, the aircraft came under anti-aircraft fire and was hit in several places. Nevertheless, Flight Lieutenant Legge went on to the dropping zone and released his containers with precision. Shortly afterwards the aircraft was again hit Flight Lieutenant Legge was severely wounded in the leg; his co-pilot was also wounded. Undaunted, Flight Lieutenant Legge remained at the controls. Although suffering severe pain and becoming weak through loss of blood he flew the aircraft to base where he effected a safe landing in difficult conditions. This officer displayed great courage and fortitude and was undoubtedly responsible for the safe return of the aircraft and its crew.’ The original Recommendation, dated 26 September 1944, gives some additional information: ‘On the evening of 24 September, Flight Lieutenant Legge was briefed to drop re-supply panniers on a D.Z. to the west of Arnhem. A considerable amount of flak was encountered over the majority of the route and the aircraft was hit in several places. In face of concentrated machine gun and 20mm fire, Flight Lieutenant Legge pressed on over the Drop Zone and carried out an accurate drop. Just after turning away the aircraft was again hit, wounding the second pilot in both legs, and seriously wounding Flight Lieutenant Legge in the right leg, damaging the muscles and denying him the use of his leg. He lost a lot of blood on the route home, and arrived over base in a very weak condition. In spite of a slippery runway and a high cross wind, Flight Lieutenant Legge carried out a successful night landing. The courage and determination of this officer in the face of heavy opposition, is worthy of the highest praise. Remarks by Air Commodore Darvall, Officer Commanding HQ 46 Group: Flight Lieutenant Legge saved his aircraft and crew by a splendid display of courage and airmanship. Strongly recommended for an immediate award of the D.F.C.’ Brian Pauncefoote Legge was born at Snaresbrook, Essex on 5 May 1920, and spent his early years in China, before being educated at Exeter School. He joined the Royal Air Force on 6 February 1939 and was commissioned as an acting pilot officer on 15 April 1939. Following the outbreak of the Second World War Legge received his first operational posting, to 73 Squadron, on 12 May 1940, and his first flight over foreign soil took place the following day, in Hurricane L1826, when he was detailed for a Sector Recce. He notes in his log-book, ‘Did first aerobatics in Hurricane’. His next flight was on 15 May when he was one of six Hurricanes from ‘A Flight’ to take off after lunch to intercept enemy aircraft over Rheims. Legge records in his log, ‘Interception of 20-30 enemy bombers, Rheims - Chased a He 111 but was unable to catch it. Flak over Germany, fight with a Hurricane ensued.’ At the beginning of June, Legge had several attacks of malaria, resulting from his early days in China, and on 10 June he was declared unfit for further flying with the squadron and he was sent back to the UK immediately. It would appear that his days off sick combined with his strong personality did not endear him to the CO and other officers of 73 Squadron (who were a tight knitted bunch having been through rough times in France). Battle of Britain Legge was returned to No. 1 RAF Depot at Uxbridge where he stayed until July, and after a posting to an Officer Training Unit finally rejoined a Fighter Squadron when he was posted to 601 Squadron at Exeter on 13 October 1940. Between 18 and 27 October he was engaged on practice flights/formations, and cross country flights along with sea firing exercises, but finally, on 28 October, he did his first ‘operational sortie’ which would earn him the Battle of Britain clasp. He completed two further sorties on the 29 October when Portsmouth was attacked during the morning, and on 30 October he did another sortie with no contacts, noting in his log on each occasion the single word, ‘Flap’. North Africa At the start of November Legge was posted back to his old squadron, 73 at Debden, who had just been ordered to join the Desert Air Force, and by January 1941 the squadron was up and running, and having taken over from 112 Squadron they were soon on local defensive patrols over Tobruk. As he wrote in a letter to his mother: ‘I can’t tell you very much about the journey out here, except it was the most interesting one I have ever made. A forced landing in the bush followed, but I managed to make a big city for Christmas. The sand gets rather boring after a while; we have it for lunch, tea and supper, sleep in it, breathe and drink it, not to mention the sandstorms, which rip up our tents. Owing to the censorship regulations I can’t tell you about our activities out here, but the last week has been very exciting.’ On 21 January, during a dawn patrol, and with several Fiat G50s appearing over Tobruk, the CO led an attack on them with Legge, Wareham, Wainwright and Griffith, sharing in the destruction of one and Legge damaging another. He was subsequently hit by ground fire resulting in his engine bursting into flames. He made a forced landing at El Adem dousing the fire with sand and water and was rescued by the CO of 113 Squadron in a Blenheim. On returning to base Legge heard on Italian radio that the Italian fighters had ‘encountered five Hurricanes that morning and had shot one down in flames, and the other four had fled.’ Legge himself noted in his log book: ‘Attack on Tobruk begins, attacked several G50s, chased two for ten miles at ‘0 feet’, used up all my ammunition but only damaged one. Was shot in glycol tank by ground fire, when returning, and force-landed at El Adem. P/O Wainwright shot down in flames, Sgt Murray got a G50. (Sgt Murray later recalled ‘I was convinced that we were caught in a trap’). Benghasi fell on 6 February and by the following day the Allied attack captured Tobruk, the retreating Italians were caught at Beda Fomm in a battle that saw their army destroyed, 130,000 prisoners taken along with 850 big guns and 400 tanks, the Italian Air Force being virtually wiped out. Legge flew on the 1st in Hurricane TP-L on a ground strafing sortie in the morning led by Beytagh where they destroyed several Lorries on the road near Apollonia. He notes in his log book: ‘Set alight a (Caproni) Ghiblis which Sgt Murray had shot down, destroyed 2 motorbikes and drivers and one petrol lorry in flames. Ran into heavy A/A on way back.&rs...
Pair: Major T. E. “Teddy” Madden, 17th Musalman Rajput Infantry (The Loyal Regiment), Indian Army, portrayed as a loveable rogue and scoundrel in John Barleycorn Bahadur, Old Time Taverns of India, with his death - contested as ‘murder for diplomatic reasons’ by his wife - gaining international press coverage Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Somaliland 1902-04 (Capt: T. E. Madden, 17th Infty: I.A.) partially officially renamed; Delhi Durbar 1903, silver (Capt. T. E. Madden (17th B.I.) Commdt. 19th & 20th T.Cs.) minor edge bruising to last, otherwise generally very fine or better, A.G.S. unique to officer of the regiment (2) £360-£440 --- Provenance: A. M. Shaw Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, September 2013. Travers Edward Madden was born in January 1871, and was the son of Colonel T. D. Madden, Indian Army. The latter served attached to the Rifle Brigade during the Indian Mutiny, and shot himself in June 1885. Extensive details about Madden’s subsequent life, and death, can be found in John Barleycorn Bahadur, Old Time Taverns of India, by Major H. Hobbs. Some extracts from which are as follows: ‘At that time Lieutenant Travers Edward Madden - “Teddy Madden” to his intimates, was a bit of a star turn at Spence’s hotel... Clever, humorous, a good amateur actor, able to talk well on most subjects, free from the insignificance of exaggeration... Born in Agra, the city where the famous Willcocks brothers first saw the light, he went to Sandhurst and was commissioned into the South Wales Borderers, then laying at Aden - afterwards moving to Allahabad. Transferring to the Indian Army he started with the 16th Bengal Infantry at Alipore where Colonel Stoddart found him rather too much of a handful.... His popularity resulted in a London decoration - the “F.O.S.” (Friend of Sloper) awarded by Ally Sloper’s Weekly, one of the leading comic papers of the day to prominent men who had endured enough religion in youth to last through life were assumed to be uninfluenced by or unimpaired by sloppy or bilious affection for missionaries. Looking back it is astonishing how popular and important Ally Sloper was for so many years.... Madden, with his “F.O.S.” became more than a local character; no other man in Calcutta had it and as he was in due course depicted in one of the weekly cartoons, Ally Sloper added to cheerfulness in the hotel bar.... Madden volunteered for service in Somaliland where he did good work as transport officer showing capacity for organisation for which he was praised. On return to regiment duty he published a small book on transport. Some time later he came in for £800 a year. Leaving his wife in India, he went home, organised the finest horse show and military tournament ever seen in Dublin and in five years spent every penny. Nobody could understand how he managed to get back into the Indian Army but he did, and stayed there in spite of scores of bitter letters sent by his wife to army officials right up to the Secretary of State for War.... When Madden had put in full time as major he was retired on pension eventually taking the post of Comptroller of the Household in Alwar State. There were not many - that is, very many - anxious to serve that maharajah, but the pay was good, there was plenty of shikar and little interference. One of the conditions laid down was that Madden should give up drink. Unfortunately, in India, nothing keeps well, not even good resolutions. In a place like Alwar any man could be pardoned for taking a rest from his memory, and sobriety, like virtue, is not everything.... During the summer of 1916 he went out after tiger. Alwar State in June is hot enough to melt the sword in scabbard; as someone, surprised to find anybody lived there put it, the air was so dry that fish came out of the water to sneeze... When Madden came in he did what others have done - drank with the moderation of a thirsty camel. Heat stroke supervened. He was brought insensible to Delhi, put in hospital and in spite of care, after three days breathed his last.’ In a final twist, Madden’s wife was convinced of ‘foul play’ with regards to his death. She attempted to sue Lord Winterton, the Under Secretary of State for India. At the time the case was covered by many newspapers across the British Empire, with the widow claiming that her husband had been murdered for diplomatic reasons and the case had been ‘hushed up’. The case was eventually dismissed due to a lack of substantial evidence to support her claim. Sold with copied research, including a photographic image of recipient in uniform.
Six: Bombardier H. Wood, Royal Field Artillery, who served with the Pom Poms Section during the Boer War Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (90699 Dvr. H. Woods. R.A.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (90699 Br: H. Wood, R.F.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (90699 Bomb: H. Wood. Pom Poms Sec: R.A.); British War and Victory Medals (44048 Bmbr. H. Wood. R.A.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum (90699 Driver H. Wood. 32 F.B. R.A.) contemporarily impressed naming, light contact marks, otherwise good very fine (6) £400-£500 --- 32 Field Battery R.A. was equipped with 15-pdr rifled muzzle-loading guns and was positioned in the centre of the Zariba at Omdurman with the 8000 strong British Division. It was the first unit to open fire against the Dervishes at 6.25am on the morning of the battle, at a range of 2,700 yards. Bombardier Wood served in “H” Section Pom Poms R.F.A. during the Boer War, attached from 1st Divisional Ammunition Column.
Three: Chaplain General F. H. Beaven, Rhodesia Forces, latterly Bishop of Southern Rhodesia, who was described by men of the 2nd Rhodesia Regiment thus - ‘Bishop Beaven had appealed to our spiritual fundamentals, exhorted us to be material and cold blooded, and rubbed in the righteous war with the big “R” and the Red, White & Blue until we didn’t know whether he was a parson or soldier’ Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 1 clasp, Cape Colony (Rev. F. H. Beaven. C to F.); British War and Victory Medals (Ch. Gen. F. H. Beaven.) nearly extremely fine (3) £400-£500 --- Frederic Hicks Beaven was born in Rodwell, Caine, Wiltshire on 11 April 1855, the eldest son of Christopher Beaven. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wimborne and University College, Durham. Was Curate of St. Martin’s, Brighton, 1878. Beaven served as Vicar of Newborough, Staffordshire, 1881-85; Vicar of St. Chad’s, Stafford, 1885-87 and Vicar of St. Paul’s, Burton-on-Trent, 1887-1901. He served as acting chaplain to the forces in South Africa, 1900, and was appointed Archdeacon of Matabeleland in 1903. Beaven was appointed Dean of Salisbury (Rhodesia) in 1908, and served as Bishop of Southern Rhodesia, 1910-25. He served as Chaplain General of the Rhodesian Forces during the Great War, and retiring from his bishopric, he then served as Rector of Thelnetham, Suffolk, 1925-26. The following extracts from Church & Settler in Colonial Zimbabwe by P. Wood, and The Church in Southern Rhodesia by H. St. T. Evans, give insight into Beaven’s time in Africa: ‘In the middle of 1904, the diocese was honoured with a visit from Archbishop West Jones and Mrs West Jones. The visit of the Metropolitan is best described in his own words. “The first three weeks of July were spent in Rhodesia. I visited first the Matopo Hills, where Cecil Rhodes’ body lies beneath a single flat stone, and within sight of that grave I conducted, with the Archdeacon of Matabeleland, the Ven. F. H. Beaven, the religious service at the unveiling of the granite monument to the memory of Wilson and his heroic men who fell fighting at Shangani [1893]. It was a most impressive sight.” To Beaven, the men of the patrol were heroes, splendid examples of duty honoured and death willingly undertaken for their country....’ ‘Powell was succeeded by a man already on the staff of Mashonaland, Frederic Hicks Beaven, the man whom he had brought to Salisbury as Dean in 1908 in order to free himself to concentrate on missions. Beaven had been Vicar-General since Powell’s departure for England in late 1909. He was an Englishman from a military family and a man of private means, but, like Gaul, was neither a public school nor a “University” man. He had trained for the ministry at St. Bee’s a non-theological college in the North of England and as a non-graduate briefly at Durham University. These facts alone would have prevented him rising to high office in the ‘home’ church, since non-graduates and St. Bee’s were not held in high regard. Beaven, had, however been a highly successful parish priest at Stafford in the diocese of Lichfield, before going out to South Africa as a chaplain to the Imperial troops in 1901. He had then stayed on to do district work in the Cape Town Diocese, became Archbishop of Matabeleland in 1903 and was responsible for beginning and sustaining church work in North-Western Rhodesia. He was the choice of the laity in the elective assembly of the diocese, who made it clear that they wanted no one else. He believed that the British Empire which the settlers represented was the world’s greatest secular agency for good and among the personal heroes he listed at his enthronement sermon was Cecil Rhodes, in company with King Alfred, St. Augustine, David Livingstone, Bishop Grey (first bishop of Cape Town) and the seventeenth century Anglican divine William Law. So great was Beaven’s admiration for Rhodes that, when the Dean of Salisbury was raising funds for a cathedral, he proposed that one of its chapels be dedicated as a memorial to Rhodes alone, as founder of the country. St. George’s Chapel was eventually built as a memorial both to him and those others who had laid down their lives in the pioneer work of occupation.’ The Right Reverend Frederic Hicks Beaven died in January 1941. Sold with copied research, including photographic images of the recipient.
A French 19th century Sword Stick. The blade inscribed Klingenthal. KLINGENTHAL – THE VALLEY OF BLADESKlingenthal is a small river town in the north-east corner of France near Strasbourg. The city was built by Bauyn d’ Angervillers, former French war secretary, and Henri Anthes was granted the first directorship by King Louis XV on July 15th, 1730.
Football. Tottenham Hotspur Legend Ricky Villa Signed FA Cup Final Man City V Tottenham Hotspurs First Day Cover. British Stamp with 14th May 1981 Postmark. Good condition. All autographs come with a Certificate of Authenticity. We combine postage on multiple winning lots and can ship worldwide. UK postage from £5.99, EU from £7.99, Rest of World from £9.99
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