C & T Auctioneers and Valuers Ltd
Lot 911
An Important British 1895 Pattern Infantry Officers Sword by Wilkinson No.30601, Belonging to Major General Arthur Solly-Flood Commanding Officer of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons, Commander of 35th Brigade During the Battle of the Somme and Later Director General of Training for the British Expeditionary Force, signed regulation blade sharpened for field service with patent tang, etched PATENT SOLID HILT, crowned VR, scrolls and with owner’s name ARTHUR SOLLY-FLOOD within banner, regulation hilt, guard stamped STEEL HILT with traces of nickel plating, silver wire bound chequered composition grip, in its leather field service scabbard. Blade 83cs. Good condition. Accompanied by an archive of paperwork and ephemera relating to Arthur Solly-Flood, including commission documents, MID certificate, forwarding document for the 1935 jubilee medal, Belgium citation, large press photograph, Defence of Ypres veterans certificate, plus other items. His personal diary covering the period of 1914, up to August, and him arriving in France, sadly he decides to stop writing any more information after this. Formal black and white photograph of Sir Douglas Haig is also included which has a signed dedication from Haigs, wife to Sollly-Flood, Haig and Solly-Flood were very close friends. Other items of paperwork include a note signed by General Sir Henry Wilson, who was killed by the IRA on his own doorstep in 1922. An interesting grouping of items. Born the son of Major-General Sir Frederick Solly-Flood and Constance Eliza Frere, Arthur Solly-Flood was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the South Lancashire Regiment in 1891. After seeing action in the Second Boer War, he became commanding officer of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and, in that role, deployed to the Western Front during the First World War. He went on to be commander of the 35th Brigade during the Battle of the Somme in autumn 1916, Director-General of Training for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in January 1917 and General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division in October 1917. He handed over his command in June 1919 and became Military Adviser in Ireland in April 1922. He returned to the command of 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division in June 1923 and then served as Major-General, Cavalry from November 1927 until he retired in February 1931. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1919 New Year Honours. He was colonel of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards from 1930 until his death in December 1940.
