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Lot 108
A SMALL WOODEN BOX WITH ITEMS, to include a single silver teaspoon, hallmarked Birmingham, a boxed silver scent bottle pendant fitted on a fine figaro chain, hallmarked London, together with a funnel hallmarked London, approximate gross weight 46.1 grams, EPNS cutlery, a pair of heavy duty scissors with pouch, various cap badges 'City Rifle Club, Boy Scouts, Defenders of Ladysmith Association, N.R.A' etc fob medals, medallions a Magic Pocket Savings Bank coin holder etc
Lot 1321
Nancy Vicious (nee Spungen, Sid Vicious's wife), two unframed oils on canvas of Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten (one painting a.f.) and two singles Signed and titled to the reverse of the Sid Vicious canvas. Purchased in 1977 in Camden, by the current vendor directly from Nancy Vicious. By repute, the hole in the portrait of Johnny Rotten was damage from an air rifle pellet shot by Sid Vicious. Both 61 x 91cm
Lot 464
Webley & Scott, Birmingham, .22 Cal 'MKII Service' barrel-cocking air-rifle, circa 1930's, the barrel fitted with a ramp and blade fore-sight, push-button barrel release, elevating dovetailed rear-sight to the barrel cradle, rotating bolt-handled barrel-lock, peep-sight to rear, with model details and patents, trigger unit with makers name and address, walnut semi pistol-grip butt-stock, ribbed horn heel-plate.Overall length 96cm.This item is not for sale to anybody under the age of 18. By bidding on this item you are declaring that you are 18 years of age or over. Please be aware that we are unable to send weapons or bladed products by postal courier to a UK residential address (Offensive Weapons Act 2019)
Lot 463
BSA England .22 Gas-Ram air rifle, aperture for a seven-shot magazine (not included) fitted with a 3-9x50E telescopic sight, chequered walnut three-quarter stock, serial number DP13465, overall length 100cm.This product is not for sale to people under the age of 18. By bidding on this item you are declaring that you are 18 years of age or over. Please be aware that we are unable to send weapons or bladed products by postal courier to a UK residential address (Offensive Weapons Act 2019)
Lot 473
A scarce .22 ALROS Trailsman single shot air rifle, 200 bar, with detachable all steel Walther barrel including sound moderator, blacked alloy action with detachable air-reservoir, adjustable butt-stock with polished alloy heel-plate and further detachable slim under-barrel air-reservoir, fitted with a BSA 'Catseye' 1.5/4.5 x 32 telescopic sight, gas lead included, overall length 92cm.
Lot 156
"Hunter" by Jackie Attwood - a study of a fox skull, mouth open with faux egg shell trapped in jaws, egg shell has feet and head of chick protruding out from either end, skull has painted target on cranium with a miniature hunter with rifle standing in the bottom left hand corner. Encased in a small wooden display case, 15.5cm x 12.5cm x 9.5cm.
Lot 672
* Military Buttons. A large collection of military buttons, approximately 450, late Victorian and early 20th century, including Supply Transport Corps, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, West Lincolnshire Volunteers, Royal Scots Greys, Rifle Brigade, Royal Marines, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, Nova Scotia Highlanders, Indian Staff Corps, Australian Commonwealth, King's African Rifles and many more, presented on 16 card boards for display, not all completeQTY: (approx. 450 )NOTE:Provenance: The Dr Alison Smith Lean Button Collection.
Lot 74
20th century First and Second World War British medal group comprising of 4 medals to include 1914-15 star, 1914-18 war medal. 1914-19 victory medal and second world war British defence medal. 1914-15 star impressed to Z-2834 L.Cpl F.H.S. Ponsford, Rifle Brigade, war medal and victory medals impressed to Z-2834 Pte. F.H.L Pondsford, Rifle Brigade (4)
Lot 177
Quantity of cap badges to include 8th city of London Battalion, Rifle Brigade, 2x Rochester Volunteer Training corps, 16th Battalion county of London, Barrow & North Lonsdale, DLI, Lovet scouts, Caernarvonshire volunteer regiment, inns of court regiment, 11th hussars, Royal Gloucestershire hussars, Non-Combatant corps brass shoulder title, west riding, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, 15th/19th kings Royal Hussars etc (36)
Lot 175
Quantity of 20th century military cap badges and buttons to include: argyll and Sutherland highlanders, Royal Machine gun corps, kings royal rifle corps with red felt backing, army service 1916 army canteens women badge, buttons to include 10th city of London hackney regiment and royal Berkshire regiment. Further small quantity of mother of pearl backed sweetheart brooches to reconnaissance corps, royal artillery, Australia shoulder title, Middlesex regt, officers pips etc. all varying condition, manufacturers, crowns and dates.
Lot 96
Cased Royal Marine’s Rifle Association medal impressed to Sgt H. Dyos, winners first reserve challenge trophy1922 in presentation case by Walker & Hall Sheffield together with further ERVII Royal Norfolk Veterans Association medal from the ‘inspection of the Royal Norfolk veterans association by his majesty King Edward VII 25th October 1909’ (2)
Lot 64
Small quantity of 5 mixed medals to include Edward VII St. Johns Ambulance Brigade 1902 Coronation medal impressed to pte. H.T Nunn, 1914-15 star impressed to C-1177 Pte, S.A. Milham Kings Royal Rifle Corps, 1914-19 victory medal impressed to 7477D.A. F.W. Gower D.H. Royal Naval Reserves, 1911 commemorative GRV medal and London County council for attendance conduct and industry during the year impressed to J. Cutting 1919-20 clasp.
Lot 174
1st (City of London Volunteer Rifle Brigade) Victorian shako plate circa 1859-1901. Good scarce die-stamped blackened brass crowned star mounted with oak sprays bearing crossed sword and mace; central title strap and Royal shield over ich dien and City of London shield. Two horizontal loops.
Lot 173
1st Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteers Officer’s Helmet Plate 1878-1901. A good quality plated example, the crowned eight-pointed star back plate with laurel overlays enclosing a circular strap ‘1st Cambridgeshire Rifle Volr Corps’, in the centre on a ground of black velvet a three towered castle, complete with three loop fasteners.
Lot 282
A group of WWI medals, including Star, War, and Victory medals, 1914-1918, The Great War for Civilisation '1914-1918' engraved E G Lloyd, numbered 32926; a silver 'In Defence of our Queen and Country, marked 'J S Wyon', engraved '12th Company Staffordshire Rifle Volunteers, presented by the Reverend T W Hathaway'; together with a 9ct rose gold part Albert chain and bar, a 9ct rose gold bar pin, and a yellow metal tie pin, a sundry collection of personal postcards and photos belonging to Edward 'Ted' Lloyd, an unusual pocket measuring device, a tape measure, his soldier's pay book from the First World War, a small guilloche enamel box, a walnut box (hinged, a/f), two silver watch chains, a wristwatch, and a yellow metal and sapphire tie pin. (qty)
Lot 334
Canada General Service 1866-70, 1 clasp, Fenian Raid 1866 (Ens. A. J. Goldie, 30/Regt.) officially engraved naming, lightly polished, otherwise nearly extremely fine £600-£800 --- 99 medals for 1866 issued to the 30th Regiment, including 17 Officers and 4 late issues. Alexander John Goldie was born on 17 May 1846. He was commissioned Ensign by purchase on 20 June 1865, and Lieutenant by purchase on 14 October 1868. Appointed Instructor of Musketry on 10 August 1872, whilst stationed at Fort Widley (Canada), he was then promoted to Captain on 21 August 1878, and later appointed Adjutant (Captain) Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, and Adjutant (Major), 3rd Lancashire Rifle Volunteers on 1 June 1885. In 1892 Goldie was District Inspector of Musketry at Cork, and retired on half-pay at Lieutenant-Colonel, 30th Regiment, on 17 May 1894. He was made Substantive Lieutenant-Colonel (reserve of officers list) on 23 May 1894. Sold with copied medal roll for the 30th Regiment.
Lot 620
Renamed Medal: Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, undated reverse, 2 copy clasps, The Nile 1884-85, Kirbekan (Lieut: H. W. Boyce. 19th. Husrs.) renamed; together with a Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs ‘Bell Medal’, bronze, unnamed, light pitting, nearly very fine (2) £60-£80 --- Hugh Wollcombe Boyce was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 22 March 1861 and was was commissioned Second Lieutenant from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, into the 19th Hussars on 14 January 1880. Promoted Lieutenant on 1 July 1881, he served with the Regiment in Egypt and the Sudan during the Nile Expedition in 1885, before transferring to the 6th Dragoon Guards as a Captain. He fell whilst riding ‘Lady Ava’ in the Free Hunters Steeplechase at Sandown Racecourse on 28 February 1890; kicked in the temple by another horse, he suffered a fracture of the skull, and died of his injuries that night. Sold with copied research.
Lot 51
The C.B. and Naval General Service Medal pair awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Plenderleath, 49th Foot, a Captain in H.M.S. Ardent under Nelson at Copenhagen in 1801 and in command of his Regiment at Stoney Creek and Chrystler’s Farm in 1813 The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, C.B. (Military) Companion’s breast badge, 22 carat gold and enamel, hallmarked London 1815, maker’s mark ‘IN’, complete with wide swivel-ring suspension and gold ribbon buckle; Naval General Service 1793-1840, 1 clasp, Copenhagen 1801 (Chas. Plenderleath) the first with minor damage to a few petals of green enamel wreath and a small blemish to one reverse arm, the second lightly lacquered, otherwise extremely fine and very rare (2) £12,000-£16,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Glendining, February 1953 (Lots 133 and 134). The small Army Gold Medal awarded to Plenderleath for the battle of Chrystler’s Farm was formerly in the David Spink Collection and now resides in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa; Dix Noonan Webb, December 2004. Twenty-three medals were issued to the 49th Foot for Copenhagen, together with two to the Rifles and one to the Artillery. The 49th Foot, under Colonel Brock, together with two companies of the Rifle Corps, and a detachment of Artillery, were embarked aboard various ships of the fleet, under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, with Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson as second-in-command. It was during this engagement that Nelson famously ignored Parker’s signal of recall when, with his glass to his blind eye, he said, ‘I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal.’ Charles Plenderleath served as a Captain in the 49th Foot on board the Ardent 64 at Copenhagen, in which battle she formed one of the squadron under the orders of Lord Nelson, and compelled four of the Danish flotilla, one of which was the Jutland of 60 guns, to surrender. The Ardent received considerable damage, and sustained a loss of 29 men killed and 64 wounded, not counting about 40 others who were rendered hors de combat but who were not included in the casualty returns. Early on the following morning, Lord Nelson went on board the Ardent to thank her commander, Captain Thomas Bertie, officers, and people, for their conduct and exertions on the preceding day. In the American war of 1812-14, Plenderleith for the most part had command of the 49th Foot, including the actions of Stoney Creek and Chrystler’s Farm, in both of which actions he was wounded. The following extracts are taken from an account of Stoney Creek given by Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon, 49th Foot, in a private letter, dated 7 June 1813, to the Rev. James Somerville, of Montreal: ‘Major Plenderleath came immediately after to that portion of the line which I had quitted, and, with the men I had left in charge of a sergeant, and a few others, he rushed forward against the guns and took four of them - two and a tumbril were brought away. The others could not be, our men having bayonetted the horses. Major Plenderleath pushed on with about 20 men, following the main road, the men stabbing every man and horse they met with... This handful of men with Major Plenderleath took at this dash, besides the two generals [Chandler and Winder], five field officers and captains, and above 100 prisoners, and brought them off.’ ‘I am of opinion that, had not Major Plenderleath made the dash he did, the Americans would have kept their ground and our ruin would have been inevitable, but finding our people so far advanced in their centre, they broke and fled in every direction and their fire ceased at a time when our line was, as it were, entirely routed.’ Although the Americans claimed Stoney Creek as a victory, their defeat at Chrystler’s Farm was complete. Plenderleath again commanded the 49th and was again wounded. Five Lieutenants of the 49th were also wounded, as well as five men killed and three sergeants and thirty-four men wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Plenderleath subsequently received a C.B. and the Field Officers’ Gold Medal for the action at Chrystler’s Farm. Lieutenant-Colonel Plenderleath was placed on the Half Pay of the 49th shortly afterwards and saw no further active service. He died in 1854.
Lot 56
A fine Second War ‘Tobruk’ Brigade Major’s D.S.O., Order of St. John, group of eight awarded to Major G. Bestford, 6th South African Infantry Brigade Headquarters, 2nd South African Division, a veteran of the Great War who was wounded in action whilst serving in the ranks of the 20th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Scottish) on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme. Subsequently commissioned in to the 25th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish), Bestford joined the South African Police after the Great War. He was mobilised for service during the Second War, and was taken Prisoner of War at the Fall of Tobruk on 21 June 1942. Bestford returned to the South African Police after the War, rose to District Commandant of Durban, and played a prominent role during the Royal Visit to South Africa in 1947 Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., silver-gilt and enamel, reverse officially dated ‘1946’, with integral top riband bar; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Brother’s, breast badge, silver and enamels; British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. G. Bestford.) severe edge bruise to BWM; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Africa Service Medal, Second War campaign awards all officially impressed (SAP195478 G. Bestford) mounted as originally worn, and subsequently additionally mounted on card for display, generally nearly very fine or better (8) £2,800-£3,200 --- D.S.O. London Gazette 19 December 1946: ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services at Tobruk in 1942.’ The original recommendation, given by Brigadier F. W. Cooper, O.C. 6 SA Bde, states: ‘From 10 Jan 42 to 21 Jun 42 Major Bestford was my [Brigadier F. W. Cooper, O.C. 6 SA Bde] Brigade Major. During that period he carried out his duties with entire disregard for his own comfort under what at times were very trying and dangerous conditions. He was mentioned in despatches for his work during operations at Sollum and Halfaya in Jan 42. During the period the brigade was attached to 1 S.A. Div. at Gazala - Mar - Apr 42 and during the period prior to the fall of Tobruk - Apr - Jun 42 his conduct was an example to all the work he put in over the six months, especially during the two vital days prior to the surrender, entitles him, in my opinion, to a D.S.O. for which I recommend him.’ Order of St John, Serving Brother London Gazette 2 January 1953. M.I.D. London Gazette 15 December 1942: ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East during the period November, 1941, to April, 1942.’ George Bestford was one of six sons born to Thomas Bestford, and was born in Gateshead, County Durham, in October 1897. He was educated at the local Higher Grade Secondary School, and at the age of 17 falsified his age to enlist in the 20th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Scottish) on 26 October 1914. Bestford advanced to Sergeant, and served with the Battalion in the French theatre of War from 9 January 1916. The Battalion served as part of the 102nd Infantry Brigade on the Somme, and Bestford was wounded in action on 1 July 1916. On the latter date the Battalion were fighting in tandem with the 4th Tyneside Scottish: ‘Owing to the artillery barrage and the intense machine gun fire and the distance (800 yds) of no man’s land to be traversed, the two battalions were almost wiped out, though the positions of the dead showed that they pushed on to the enemy’s second line of trenches before they were annihilated.’ (Battalion War Diary refers) On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the 20th Battalion suffered casualties of 16 officers and 337 other ranks killed, and 10 officers and 268 other ranks wounded. Bestford was amongst the latter, and was evacuated back to the UK. His South African Police service files show that he subsequently received a G.O.C.’s Divisional Commendation in recognition of his gallantry on 1 July 1916. Whilst recuperating from his wounds, Bestford would have received news that his brother William had been killed in action whilst serving with the Royal Engineers on 21 July 1916. The following month, Bestford transferred as Acting Company Quartermaster Sergeant to the 29th (Reserve) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was subsequently posted to the 3rd Battalion, and then attached to the 84th Training Reserve Battalion at Hornsea. Major A. E. Ken recommended Bestford for a commission in March 1917: ‘This N.C.O. came very much under my observations, while at Home he attended several Courses of Instruction and on each one did very well indeed, on one occasion he came under the notice of the Brigadier who complimented him through his C.O. on his success... On Service he was even better, as a leader of men he is a success, I never knew him to shirk any danger or fatigues, and his coolness under Shell and Rifle fire is splendid. I regret to say his C.O. [Lieutenant Colonel C. Sillery] was killed as I knew that he had marked Sgt. Bestford out for distinction and no officers being left (All either killed or wounded) there was no one to put the recommendation forward. I think with a little training at a Cadet School he will make a very good Officer.’ After the requisite time with an Officer Cadet Battalion, Bestford was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers in October 1917. He tragically lost another sibling when his eldest brother, Robert, was killed in action serving with the Durham Light Infantry on 1 December 1917. He was then posted to France for service with the 25th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Irish). After the War, he was attached as a Signalling Officer to the 2/4th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry for service in Syria and Egypt. Bestford advanced to Lieutenant in May 1919, and relinquished his commission in March of the following year. He sailed for Natal, South Africa, in April 1921, and joined the South African Police in June 1921, and advanced from Constable to Captain, District Officer and Station Officer by June 1940. He was appointed Captain, 1st South African Police Battalion, Union Defence Force later that month, and was appointed to the Staff Headquarters, 6th Infantry (Police) Brigade. He embarked with the 2nd South African Division, and arrived in Egypt in June 1941. Serving across North Africa, at the Battles of Sollum and Halfaya, he was promoted Major in February 1942. Bestford served as Brigade Major, 6th South African Infantry Brigade Headquarters, and under constant attack from Rommel’s Afrika Korps, the Allied Forces retreated from the Gazala Line throughout May and June 1942. The Garrison at Tobruk became isolated and the majority of the 2nd South African Division was captured there en masse as Prisoners of War on 21 June following General Orders to surrender. Unable to escape, Bestford was taken prisoner by the Italians and interned at Campo 75 (Bari). He was subsequently transferred to Germany, and interned in Stalag VII-A, Stalag V-C, and finally at Oflag XII-B at Hadamar. Repatriated in April 1945, he was recommended retrospectively for the D.S.O. Bestford afterward returned to South Africa, and there resumed his employment with the South African Police. He was appointed Commanding Officer, Police Training Depot, Pretoria. During the Royal Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to South Africa in 1947, he had the honour of commanding the mounted escort and the Guard of Honour on special occasions throughout the tour. He was presented with his D.S.O. by the King at Voortrekkerhoogte, ...
Lot 49
The outstanding Great War Tigris Flotilla operations posthumous V.C., Euphrates Flotilla operations D.S.O. awarded to Lieutenant-Commander E. C. Cookson, Royal Navy: severely wounded in winning the latter distinction for extricating the armed launch Shushan out of an Arab ambush in May 1915, he paid the ultimate price for his gallantry in the river gunboat Comet four months later, when, under a storm of point-blank fire, he leapt aboard a Turkish dhow brandishing an axe - a fellow officer later observed ‘there were more bullet holes in him than they cared to count’ Victoria Cross, reverse of suspension bar engraved ‘Lt.-Comdr. E. C. Cookson, D.S.O., Royal Navy’, reverse of Cross dated ‘28 Sep. 1915’, with an old fitted case, the lid gilt inscribed ‘V.C.’; Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, both housed in a old fitted glazed display case, loose centre on the last, otherwise extremely fine (2) £180,000-£220,000 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Sotheby’s, January 1977, when sold by Cookson’s direct descendants. V.C. London Gazette 21 January 1916: ‘The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenant-Commander Edgar Christopher Cookson, D.S.O., R.N., in recognition of the following act of most conspicuous gallantry during the advance on Kut-el-Amara: On 28 September 1915, the river gunboat Comet had been ordered with other gunboats to examine, and if possible destroy, an obstruction placed across the river by the Turks. When the gunboats were approaching the obstruction, a very heavy rifle and machine-gun fire was opened on them from both banks. An attempt to sink the centre dhow of the obstruction by gunfire having failed, Lieutenant-Commander Cookson ordered the Comet to be placed alongside, and himself jumped on to the dhow with an axe and tried to cut the wire hawsers connecting it with the two other craft forming the obstruction. He was immediately shot in several places and died within a few minutes.’ D.S.O. London Gazette 13 September 1915: ‘Lieutenant-Commander Cookson was conducting a reconnaissance up a creek of the Euphrates, west of Qurnah, in the armed launch Shushan on 9 May 1915, when he was heavily attacked by Arabs concealed in the reeds. Although severely wounded early in the action, he resumed command after his wounds had been temporarily dressed, and succeeded in most ably extricating the vessel from a most perilous position under heavy rifle fire.’ Edgar Christopher Cookson was born at Cavendish Park, Tranmere, Cheshire, in December 1883, the younger son of Captain William Edgar de Crackenthorpe Cookson, R.N. Receiving his early education at Hazelhurst, Frant, he entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in Britannia in September 1897, where, according to his official service record, he quickly came to the notice of his superiors: ‘Tried by the Portsmouth Magistrates for creating a disturbance at a music hall and using obscene language in the streets: he should not have been out of the college, being confined to college at the time. Deprived of three months time and Their Lordships severe displeasure expressed. To be reported on the end of three months.’ Here, then, early signs of an adventurous character whose youthful transgressions were quickly brought to heel by his seniors, and he duly passed out as a Midshipman with an appointment in H.M.S. Jupiter in the Channel Squadron. Removing to the Dido in early 1900, he witnessed active service off China during the Boxer Rebellion (Medal), and was advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in February 1903. And by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was serving as a recently promoted Lieutenant-Commander in the sloop Clio in the Far East. Immediate D.S.O. Ordered to Basra to reinforce the Navy’s small flotilla operating on the Euphrates and Tigris in Mesopotamia in early 1915, the Clio and her consort, Espiegle, were largely incapacitated from further operations owing to the shallowness of the waters that had to be navigated, and, in their place, a remarkable ‘gallimaufry of vessels’ was formed, a flotilla best described by Colonel Sir Mark Sykes: ‘There are paddle steamers which once plied with passengers and now waddle along with a barge on either side, one perhaps containing a portable wireless station and the other bullocks for heavy guns ashore; there are once respectable tugs which stagger along under the weight of boiler plating - to protect them from the enemy’s fire - and are armed with guns of varying calibre; there is a launch which pants indignantly between batteries of 4.7s, looking like a sardine between two cigarette-boxes; there is a steamer with a Christmas-tree growing amidships, in the branches of which its officers fondly imagine they are invisible to friend or foe. There is also a ship which is said to have started life as an aeroplane in Singapore, but shed its wings, kept its propeller, took to water, and became a hospital. And this great fleet is the cavalry screen, advance guard, rear guard, flank guard, railway, general headquarters, heavy artillery, line of communication, supply depot, police force, field ambulance, aerial hangar and base of supply of the Mesopotamian Expedition.’ Among this ‘great fleet’ was the newly commissioned stern-wheel river launch Shushan and, in April, Cookson was appointed to her command. Nor did it take long for him to make his mark - Deeds That Thrill the Empire takes up the story: ‘It was in the early days of the advance on Kut-el-Amara, when the advanced sections of our forces had reached the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates; and before pushing on along the valley of the former river, it was necessary to ascertain whether any considerable body of enemy troops had withdrawn up the Euphrates with the intention of coming down upon our lines of communication after the main force had passed on. The task of carrying out the reconnaissance fell to Lieutenant-Commander Cookson and his armed launch, the Shushan. The little steamer plugged her way up the Euphrates for some distance, a sharp look-out being kept on either side; but no sign of the enemy was discovered. Presently Cookson came to a tributary branching off to the left, and, impelled more by instinct than anything else, slackened the speed of the lumbering launch and steered her out of the main stream between the closer banks of the creek. On either side the tributary was flanked by a dense growth of rushes, which gently swayed in the wash of a passing vessel. For some distance the Shushan pushed on, the men on deck scanning every yard of the banks as they passed, still without finding a trace of a living soul. The Lieutenant-Commander was about to give up this particular part of his search as useless, and had already given orders preparatory to putting the vessel about for the return journey, when suddenly from among the rushes on both sides of the creek there burst forth a furious fusillade of rifle-fire. The Arabs, lying concealed amidst and behind the dense-growing rushes, could not be seen; but the guns, machine guns and rifles on board the Shushan instantly got to work and rained a steady stream of bullets along the banks. With all possible haste, but still all too slowly, the cumbersome Shushan was turned round in mid-stream, and off she set at the best of her poor speed to break out of the hornet’s nest into which she had stumbled. The enemy had disposed themselves well, but fortunately the launch had been well fitted up for the work she had to do,...
Lot 327
India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, Burma 1885-7, Burma 1887-89, second clasp loose on riband, as issued (4838 Pte. W. Steadman 1st. Bn. Rif. Brig.) suspension claw and post both slack, edge bruising, polished, therefore fine £100-£140 --- W. Steadman attested for the Rifle Brigade on 13 September 1881 and served with them in India and Burma. He was discharged on 12 September 1893, after 12 years’ service. Sold with a photograph of the recipient in uniform, wearing his medal.
Lot 13
Pair: Private T. Mahoney, King’s Royal Rifle Corps Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 6 clasps, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith, Laing’s Nek, Belfast, Transvaal, Orange Free State, unofficial rivets between all but the first two clasps (5579 Pte. T. Mahoney, K.R.R.C.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (5579 Pte. T. Mahoney, K.R.R.C.) cleaned, very fine (2) £160-£200 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- Provenance: Spink Numismatic Circular, December 1981.
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