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Lot 665
An early 19th Century mahogany hall bench, the gently waisted back with scrolling gadroon crest, the scrolls centred by flowerheads, to a central robin crest above a band of entrelac decoration, the channelled scroll arms on baluster supports above a panel seat raised on fluted taper legs with castors, 133cm (53.5") wide Provenance: The Rochfort Family of Clogrennan and thence by descent. The Rochfort family built their mansion at Clogrennan in Carlow in the first decade of the 19th Century. Active in Irish politics for much of that Century the family eventually sold the estate in 1922 after which Horace Cosby Rochfort brought the bench with him to England. This bench bears similarities with other Irish hall seats for example those sold at Christies, Important English Furniture, 19 November 1992 Lot 64, the cresting in particular has similar features, derived from Thomas Hope's designs.
Lot 1147
Three: Chief Petty Officer Air Engineering Mechanic (Weapons) W. R. F. Davies, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, who served with 845 Squadron in the Falklands and was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct after a Harrier training aircraft crashed near Yeovilton Air Station in 1985 General Service 1962, 1 clasp, Malay Peninsula (FX.065354 W. R. F. Davies, N.A.M.1 R.N.); South Atlantic 1982, with small rosette (CAEM(W) W R F Davies D065354U 845 Sqn.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (CEL W R F Davies D065354U HMS Osprey); Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct, silver laurel leaves mounted on blue ribbon, good very fine (4) £2000-2500 Queen’s Commendation London Gazette 30 July 1985: ‘Chief Petty Officer Air Engineering Mechanic (Weapons) William Richard Ferady Davies. On 7 February 1985 a twin seat Harrier training aircraft from the Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton crashed four miles north of the Air Station. Chief Petty Officer Air Engineering Mechanic (Weapons) Davies was the senior weapons specialist rating in the salvage team which arrived at the scene of the accident forty minutes after the crash. The impact of the aircraft had been followed by explosion, fire and disintegration of the airframe: the ejection seats were cast forward of the main wreckage and had come to rest inverted. The two ejection seats were quickly assessed as in a highly dangerous condition. The seat cartridges had been damaged by heat and with the seats part drawn and distorted, their entire condition was unstable and liable to explosion. In harrowing, testing and dangerous conditions, and with total disregard for his own safety Davies thoroughly examined the cartridges on both ejection seats and coolly took steps to render them safe; throughout this hazardous operation he took pains to keep the command informed of each stage of progress. Following the successful completion of his task the main salvage operation was able to be undertaken. Throughout this whole operation, in extremely arduous conditions Chief Petty Officer Air Engineering Mechanic (Weapons) Davies displayed great courage, composure and professional devotion to duty in the highest traditions of the Service.’ Sold with original citation for Commendation together with copied commendation certificate, Discharge Certificate and letter of congratulations. An original news cutting that also accompanies the group explains that this operation took Davies two-and-a-half hours to complete, during the whole of which time the bodies of the two aircrew who died in the impact were still in their seats.
Lot 1163
The important group of awards to Field-Marshal Sir John Michel, G.C.B., Colonel of the 86th Foot, who commanded the Malwa Field Force in the pursuit of Tantia Topee in Central India, and in China commanded the 1st Division which burned the Summer Palace at Pekin in retaliation for the murder of European captives The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, G.C.B. (Military) Knight Grand Cross set of insignia by R. & S. Garrard & Co., comprising sash badge in 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1870; and breast star in silver, gold and enamels, one green enamelled stalk lacking; South Africa 1834-53 (Lieut. Colonel John Michel, 6th Regt.) renamed; Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Central India (Majr. Genl. Jno. Michel, C.B.) ‘Jno.’ re-engraved otherwise officially impressed naming; China 1857-60, 2 clasps, Taku Forts 1860, Pekin 1860 (Major Genl.Sir J Michel, K.C.B. 1st Dvn. Staff) officially impressed naming; Turkish Crimea, British issue, unnamed; Order of the Medjidie, 2nd class set, comprising breast star in silver, gold and enamel, 94mm; and badge in silver, gold and enamels, 57mm, this lacking suspension, the star with old repair to red enamel and other minor chips; Field-Marshal’s Baton, the surviving staff only of the Field-Marshal’s Baton presented by the Queen to Michel in 1886, comprising velvet covered wooden staff with fourteen gold lions, the original gold finials apparently lost in a burglary and replaced with silver-gilt caps to each end, these hallmarked London 1946, velvet worn overall, the campaign medals with contact marks but generally very fine or better £12000-15000 John Michel was born on 1 September 1804, eldest son of General John Michel by his second wife, Anne, daughter of the Hon. Henry Fane, M.P., and granddaughter of the eighth Earl of Westmoreland. John was educated at Eton and obtained an ensigncy in the 57th Foot by purchase on 3 April 1823, passing through the 27th to the 64th Foot, joining that corps at Gibraltar, and obtaining his lieutenancy in it on 28 April 1825. He purchased an unattached company in December 1826, and in the following February exchanged back to the 64th Foot at Gibraltar. In February 1832 he entered the senior department of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in November 1833 passed his examination and received a first certificate. He then rejoined his regiment and served with it in Ireland until February 1835, when he exchanged to the 3rd Buffs in Bengal, where he was aide-de-camp to his uncle, General Sir Henry Fane, G.C.B., while commander-in-chief in India in 1835-40. In May 1840 Michel was promoted to a majority by purchase in the 6th Foot, over the heads of many old officers in the regiment, an appointment which provoked much criticism at the time, and in April 1842, a few weeks after the arrival of the regiment in England, he purchased the lieutenant-colonelcy. He commanded the 6th Foot at home and at the Cape of Good Hope until 1854. He was in command of a brigade during the Kaffir war of 1846-47, and during part of the war of 1852-53 was in command of the 2nd division of the army in the Waterkloof (medal). At the close of the campaign he was made C.B. ‘for distinguished service in the Kaffir wars of 1846-7 and 1851-3.’ He became brevet colonel in January 1854 and was appointed to command the York recruiting district, but exchanged to half-pay in the 98th Foot, on appointment as Chief of Staff of the Turkish Contingent. With local rank of Major-General in Turkey, he held this post until the end of the Crimean war (2nc class of the Medjidie and Turkish medal). In 1856 he was appointed to a brigade at Fort Beaufort, Cape of Good Hope, at a time of great danger and threatened war, owing to the expected fulfilment in February 1857 of an old Kaffir prophecy of the destruction of the whites. The danger was hardly over before Michel was ordered to China for a command there. He was shipwrecked in the Transit steamer in the Straits of Sunda on 10 July 1857, and carried to Singapore. His services were subsequently diverted to India and he was placed on the Bombay Staff in February 1858. In June of that yera the troops in Rajputana were concentrated at Nusseerabad and Nimach, under Major-General H. G. Roberts, Bombay Army, those at Mhow consisting of a brigade under Brigadier Honner. The latter, reinforced from Bombay, were formed into a division, as the Malwa Field Force, under Michel, the command of the troops in Rajputana being added thereto in August 1858, when Roberts was promoted to the command in Gujerat. Michel became Major-General on 26 October 1858. Impressed with the necessity of cutting off from the towns the bodiesof rebels under Tantia Topee, Rao Sahib, and other leaders, and compelling them to seek the jungles, Michel adopted a strategy which proved eminently successful, despite serious physical obstacles, for the rains at this season had converted the soil at Malwa into a sea of black mud, and the heat was phenomenal. He distributed his troops in lightly equipped columns at salient points in Rajputana and Malwa, with orders to follow the rebels without intermission. Starting himself from Mhow, Michel came up with Tantia Topee at Beorora on 5 September 1858. Tantia and the cavalry fled, pursued by the British cavalry. The infantry and guns made a stand, but did not await the British onset, and leaving thirty guns behind them, eight thousand well trained troops were put to flight without the loss of a man. Michel again defeated Yantia at Mingrauli on 9 October, marched against Rao Sahib the next day, and defeated him at Sindwaha on 15 October. On 5 December he anihilated one wing of Tantia’s force near Saugor, the other escaping across the Narbada into Nagpur. Other defeats of bodies of rebels followed and they began to lose heart and creep away to their homes. Between 20 June 1858 and 1 March 1859, the field force traversed an aggregate distance of over three thousand miles, of which Michel himself marched seventeen hundred miles. The operations ended with the capture of Tantia Topee, who was taken by a small column under Brigadier Meade, was at once tried by court-martial, and was hanged on 18 April 1859 for being in arms against the British. The legality of the sentence was questioned but he was admitted to have been one of the most bloodthirsty of Nana Sahib’s advisers. Michel, who was made K.C.B., remained in command of the Mhow division untilo the end of 1859, when he was appointed to the army under Sir James Hope Grant, proceeding to the north of China. Michel commanded the 1st Division at the action at Sinho, and at the occupation of Pekin on 12 October 1860. On 18 October his division burned the Summer Palace at Pekin, in return for the treacherous treatment of Mr (afterwards Sir Harry) Parkes and some other captives. The palace had already been looted by the French and most of the Imperial treasures which found their way to England were bought from French soldiers. Sir John Michel was appointed Colonel of the 86th (Royal County Down) Regiment (later 2nd Royal Irish Rifles) on 19 August 1862. From 1865 to 1867 he commanded the British troops in North America, becoming lieutenant-general in June 1866, and general in March 1874. He was advanced to G.C.B. in 1871, and selected to command the troops in the first ‘autumn manoeuvres’ in the south of England in 1873. In 1875 he was appointed commander of the forces in Ireland, and was sworn of the Irish privy council. He held the Irish command from 1875 to 1880, his social qualities and ample means rendering him extremely popular. He was a J.P. for Dorset and was made a Field-Marshal on 27 March 1885. Sir John Michel died at his seat, Dewlish, Dorset, on 23 May 1886, aged 82. The medals are accompanied by an ivorine label which records the original inscription on the base of Michel’s baton: ‘From Her Majesty Alexandra Victoria Queen of the United Kin
Lot 1164
A rare Great War East Africa operations C.M.G. group of nine awarded to Colonel C. U. Price, Indian Army, C.O. of Jacob’s Rifles and a successful Column Commander whose forces captured Dar-es-Salaam in September 1916 The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel; East and Central Africa 1897-99, 1 clasp, Uganda 1897-98 (Lieut., 3/Baluch L.I.); China 1900, no clasp (Captain, 30/Baluch L.I.); 1914-15 Star (Lt. Col., 1/130 Baluchis); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Col.); Delhi Durbar 1903, impressed naming, ‘Colonel C. V. Price, 130th Baluchis’; Delhi Durbar 1911, unnamed as issued; Russian Order of St. Anne, ribbon only, mounted court style for wear, generally good very fine (8) £1800-2200 C.M.G. London Gazette 26 June 1916. Mention in despatches London Gazette 30 June 1916, 7 March 1918 and 6 August 1918 (all East Africa). Russian Order of St. Anne, 3rd Class London Gazette 15 February 1917. Charles Uvedale Price was born in May 1868 and was educated at the United Services College, Westward Ho! and the R.M.C., Sandhurst. Originally commissioned into the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in February 1888, he transferred to the Indian Army in January 1890 and served in the Zhob Valley on the North West Frontier in the same year, afterwards gaining an appointment as a Wing Officer in the 30th Regiment of Bombay Infantry (3rd Baluchis). In January 1897, however, he was attached to the 27th Bombay Infantry (1st Baluchis) as Adjutant, and went on to win his first campaign medal with them in the Uganda operations of 1897-98. During this latter campaign he was engaged against the Sudanese mutineers, including the operations at Jeruba and Kijangute, and in Budda and Ankoli, gaining a mention in despatches. Shortly afterwards he sailed for China, and served as a Captain in the course of the Boxer Rebellion. Then in 1903, back in India, Price attended the Delhi Durbar, attached as a Political Officer to His Highness the Mir of Khairpur. He was advanced to Major in February 1906. Appointed a Double Company Commander in the 130th K.G.O. Baluchis (Jacob’s Rifles) in October 1911, Price assumed command of the regiment in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in April 1915, and went on to serve with distinction in the operations in East Africa. In July 1915, in the fighting in the Mbuyuni region, he was appointed to the command of the flanking column, comprising Jacob’s Rifles, the 4th K.A.R. and Cole’s Scouts, sent by Brigadier-General Malleson to envelop the enemy’s left. Carrying out a well timed circuitous night march, Price attacked at daybreak on the 14th, but by 8 a.m. his force was checked by strong enemy resistance, and it became necessary to await more positive news from the main attacking force to the Germans’ front. This initiative, however, also lost momentum, and by the time Malleson’s order to call off the assault reached Price, his force had been under a lively hostile fire for at least an hour. Unperturbed, Price disengaged and ‘brought away his force in a steady and well-executed withdrawal, with slight loss’ (Official history refers). In early July 1916, as C.O. of a 500-strong force, comprising the 5th Light Infantry and a company of the 101st Grenadiers, Price was given the task of capturing Tanga. Carrying out a successful landing on the southern shore of Manza Bay on the 5th, he moved his force inland towards Amboni, ‘which was reached next day after disposing of some slight resistance on the way’. And on the 7th, he and his men crossed the Zigi River, the final natural barrier between them and their goal. Tanga, however, was found to have been deserted by the enemy, although some had remained behind in the surrounding bush from where they sniped at the British with good effect. Flushing out such opposition by means of frequent patrolling, Price moved on to Kange on the 17th. Then in early August, he was given overall command of two columns, numbering in total some 1400 men, to secure the crossings of the Wami River. This he successfully accomplished in little more than a week, thereby assisting in opening up the way forward to attack Dar-es-Salaam. For the final advance on the seat of government and principal port of German East Africa, Price’s force was bolstered in strength by some 500 men and equipped with 20 machine-guns. The whole was assembled at Bagamoyo at the end of the month, and on the 31st, in two columns, it advanced on Dar-es-Salaam, while two smaller parties penetrated north to secure the railway line and some important bridges. Just four days later, having encountered little opposition, Price’s main force was assembled on the heights near Mabibo, from which the port could be seen less than three miles away. And early on that morning, after the Royal Navy had despatched a delegation aboard the Echo with a formal summons to surrender, the 129th Baluchis, which had acted as Price’s advanced guard throughout the operation, entered and took over the town. Once again, the Germans had made a hasty retreat, leaving behind 80 hospital patients and 370 non-combatants. For his part in some of the above related operations in German East Africa, Price was awarded the C.M.G and mentioned in despatches, in addition to gaining appointment to the Russian Order of St Anne. And in the later operations of that theatre of war between 1917-18, he again distinguished himself and was twice more the recipient of a ‘mention ‘. The Colonel, who retired to South Africa, died in May 1956. For the recipient’s Order of St. Anne, see Lot 669.
Lot 1256
Sold by Order of the Recipient A rare and outstanding ‘Special Forces’ Northern Ireland Q.G.M., Falklands M.I.D. group of four awarded to Warrant Officer K. M. James, Royal Marines, a long-served and gallant member of the Special Boat Service, who was decorated for rescuing a wounded comrade in an undercover operation in October 1978 whilst serving with 14 Intelligence Company, and subsequently mentioned in despatches for his leadership of an S.B.S. team landed on enemy occupied East Falkland Island prior to the arrival of the British Task Force in May 1982 Queen’s Gallantry Medal, E.II.R. (Cpl. Kevin M. James, PO25432M, R.M.); General Service 1962, 1 clasp, Northern Ireland (PO25432M K. M. James, Cpl., R.M.); South Atlantic 1982, with M.I.D. oak leaf and rosette (Sgt. K. M. James, PO25432M, R.M.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., E.II.R. (Sgt. K. M. James, PO25432M, R.M.), mounted as worn, generally good very fine (4) £25,000-30,000 Q.G.M. London Gazette 27 March 1979: ‘In recognition of service in Northern Ireland during the period 1 August 1978 to 31 October 1978.’ Under the pseudonym ‘Luke ‘, the full story of James’s extraordinary deeds as an undercover operative in Dungannon one night in October 1978 appear in Duncan Falconer’s First into Action (first published by Little, Brown and Company, 1998): ‘When several shots rang out, interrupting the cold stillness that had shrouded Dungannon all that week, no one knew where they had come from. A couple of operators reported it, but they were quickly told to leave the net free in case there was an emergency. A radio then opened up and we could hear the sound of gurgling mixed in with a few inaudible words. The Det commander tried to contact each of the operatives to eliminate them as sources, but whoever was gurgling on the net was holding down the send button preventing all transmission. Luke [James] felt certain the shots had come from the Bear Cage area and decided not to wait until the comms cleared to inform ops. He leapt out of the car and tore up the hill, gun in hand, towards the car park. The rest of us could do nothing until we found out what was going on. Some operatives suspected it might be one of ours parked up by the lake and quickly drove there, but the operative was fine. We were all unaware of Luke tearing through the town alone and in great personal danger from a number of sources. If he had encountered an Army or police patrol they would shoot him without hesitation - a man in civvies running with a gun in his hand was a legitimate target, and they would never expect him to be a British undercover operative. Then there were the gunmen themselves - they could still be around and waiting for such a reaction. Luke felt certain it was Noddy who had been hit, but he had no idea from what direction. He saw the car at the far end of the car park in the shadows and sprinted to it. When he got there he found Noddy lying slumped in his seat. The driver’s window had been shattered by bullets. Blood seeped from holes in Noddy’s face, torso and legs, but he was alive, just. Luke’s only option was to get Noddy to the hospital as soon as possible. He manhandled him over the handbrake and gear lever and into the passenger seat. There was no time to be gentle, he was oozing blood. The threat of gunmen was still at the forefront of Luke’s mind. As he sat in the driver’s seat to start the car, he could feel the pints of warm blood soaking into the arse of his trousers. He screeched out of the car park, passed the pub where O’Dilly had been standing and sped up the road. By now the RUC had sent patrol cars to investigate the shooting and the Scots Guards, the local Army unit, were also heading towards the area. As Luke made a sharp turn out of the car park an RUC patrol car appeared in his rear. They flicked on their flashing lights and pursued him. As if matters could not get any worse the RUC assumed Luke was escaping from the shooting and was, therefore, the gunman. Suddenly Luke heard shots. The RUC were trying to shoot out his tyres. A bullet hit the car. Luke was an excellent driver and although he was scared shitless, as he endlessly reminded us afterwards, he never lost control. He was driving for his friend’s life. He could not stop to surrender and explain the situation because by the time the RUC had got through their arrest procedure, Noddy would probably have been dead. Luke had no choice but to lose them. We all knew the town like the backs of our hands, and perhaps better than the police. The RUC could not compete with his driving skills, nor did they have the incentive, and in less than a minute he gave them the slip. Other police patrol cars were reacting, but they assumed he was trying to make his way out of town and so coordinated themselves on the outskirts to stop him. That was just fine by Luke because he was headed for the hospital in the centre of town. Noddy rolled around in the passenger seat while Luke continuously talked to reassure him. Suddenly, Luke’s car came under fire again, this time from the Scots Guards, and then, a few streets later, from the UDR. This was becoming ridiculous. Luke eventually screeched into the hospital car park and came to a halt outside the main entrance. He dived out of the car, gun in hand, and ran inside. He was literally covered in blood and the few people in the foyer stopped and stared with gaping mouths. A couple of civilian security guards saw him from the other side of the entrance and made their way towards him. He ignored them, grabbed a wheelchair and pushed it outside to the car. He dragged Noddy out of the passenger side and into the chair. Noddy was still alive but slipping in and out of consciousness. Luke charged up the ramp with the wheel chair and burst in through the entrance doors once again. He was just in time, because now the Scots Guards and UDR were surrounding the hospital and moving in, convinced he was a terrorist. He levelled his gun at the security guards in the foyer, who immediately backed off - they were unarmed. Luke was filled with adrenaline and shaking. The hospital was not safe ground. The majority of the staff and patients were catholics and not to be trusted. ‘Where’s a doctor? ‘Luke shouted. A couple of nurses stepped into the foyer, but froze in horror along with everyone else at the sight of these two men covered in blood, one pushing a wheelchair, wild-eyed and pointing a gun. Luke didn’t wait for an answer and charged on, pushing Noddy through swing doors and along the corridor as blood dripped from the wheelchair, leaving a trail. He paused outside every door to kick it open, gun levelled, in search of a doctor. He scared the hell out of patients and nurses as he made his way through the hospital. He finally burst into a room where two doctors were tending to a patient. Luke could not care less about anyone else. His buddy was dying. He pointed his shaking gun at them and yelled, ‘Fix him. Fix him or I’ll fucking kill you! ‘A security guard burst in and Luke aimed at him like lightning. ‘Move and I’lll fucking kill you too. ‘The guard froze in his tracks and threw his arms up. ‘I’ll kill all of you! ‘Luke left Noddy and grabbed one of the doctors and pulled him over to the chair. ‘If he dies, you die! I fucking swear it! ‘The doctors were initially frozen with fear themselves, but they pulled themselves together, their professionalism kicked in and they set to work on Noddy. The doors suddenly burst open once again and a tough-looking matron stepped in. Luke levelled the gun at her as she stood beside the security guard with his arms in the air. But this woman seemed fearless. She looked at Luke and said, ‘Put the gun down, please. ‘ ‘I’m a British soldier! ‘Luke shouted. ‘And this is a hospital. Put the gun down. ‘There was something about her calm, assertive manner that Luke latched on to. But he kept his gun aimed as she passed him
Lot 159
The Queen’s South Africa Medal awarded to Lieutenant A. L. Stanley, Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers (Militia), who, as Sir Arthur Stanley, K.C.M.G., was Governor of the State of Victoria during the Great War Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut. A. L. Stanley, R.E. Mil.), very fine £600-700 Arthur Lyulph, 5th Baron Stanley of Alderley, K.C.M.G., was born on 14 September 1875 and educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. The Stanley family had considerable estates in Cheshire (Alderley Park) and on Anglesey and a long tradition of political involvement with the Liberal Party. His father was famous for his educational and social work and his sister, Venetia Stanley, was to earn some later notoriety for her relationship with the Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith. Arthur Stanley (the Honourable from 1903, Sir Arthur from 1914 and Lord Stanley from 1925) trained as a Barrister after Oxford but interrupted his studies to serve in the Boer War. He had been commissioned in the Royal Anglesey Royal Engineers (Militia) in 1898 and promoted Lieutenant on 16 May 1900. They volunteered for service in the Boer War and Lieutenant Stanley was one of the four Royal Anglesey R.E. (Militia) officers that served in South Africa, commanding a troop in the Company that embarked on 6 June 1900. The Company took part in operations along the lines of communication and were employed on the railway in construction work, erection of blockhouses etc., before returning to England on 16 October 1901. He was promoted Captain in 1902 for his services in South Africa and resigned his Commission in 1903. Subsequently, he joined the Cheshire Yeomanry attaining the rank of Captain. Returning home from South Africa, he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1902. Faithful to the family’s Liberal tradition, he served on London County Council from 1904 and was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Eddisbury division of Cheshire with a comfortable majority in the 1906 general election. He was immediately appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Postmaster General (Earl Buxton) and served in that capacity until he lost his seat in the 1910 general election in what was widely seen as a backlash against Lloyd George’s creation of income tax in the 1909 budget, of which budget Stanley was a ‘hardy supporter’ (his obituary in The Times 24 August 1931 refers). He was again defeated at Eddisbury in December 1910 and stood unsuccessfully for Oldham in 1911. Governor of the State of Victoria Obviously a man of talent, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Anglesey and its High Sheriff in 1913. In November 1913, the King agreed to his appointment as the Governor of the State of Victoria, whilst still only 38 years old, and in January 1914 he was knighted and created a K.C.M.G. The Prime Minister, H.H. Asquith, dined and lunched with the Stanleys before they departed for Australia. Sir Arthur Stanley’s appointment as Governor was described in his obituary as ‘warmly received’ and the Governorship itself as a successful one. His tenure in Australia lasted throughout the Great War and was extended for a further year from November 1918 at the express request of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. On his return to the United Kingdom in February 1920, he was received by the King on relinquishing his appointment. By this stage he was in ill-health, a consequence of enteric picked up whilst serving in South Africa. Sir Arthur Stanley’s time as Governor of the State of Victoria during such an important time in her history has been recorded for posterity in a memoir written in 1977 by his daughter Adelaide Lubbock titled People in Glass Houses Ð Growing up at Government House. It is a wonderfully detailed account, drawing also on Lady Stanley’s letters to Venetia Stanley, of an Edwardian heyday that disappeared with the arrival of the Great War, during which Victoria more than played her part. There is no doubt that Sir Arthur and Lady Stanley were extremely popular in Victoria and they threw themselves with vigour into the arrangements for new battalions and the war charities. In 1916, for example, Lady Stanley presented Colours to the newly formed Pioneer Battalion. It was also a time of high political tension, fermented by the Conscription Referendum of October 1916 which split the Labour Party and the industrial unrest that followed the National Party’s election to power in March 1917. On his return to the United Kingdom, Sir Arthur Stanley took up much varied work and became a member of the House of Lords in 1925 on the death of his father. He kept extremely close ties with Australia and was a Director of the National Bank of Australasia and of the Australian Mercantile, Land and Finance Company. He was the Chairman of the Council of the Royal Colonial Society 1925-28 and sat on the Select Committee on the Abeyance of Peerages. He was also President of the British-Australasian Society and Honorary Colonel of the 29th Infantry Regiment. At the time of his death, in 1931 aged only 55, he was the Chairman of the East Africa Joint Committee.
Lot 52
A COLLECTION OF UNFRAMED ENGRAVINGS, mainly architectural to include: Jean le Potre Richly Ornamental Doorways, Plates I-VI, 6" x 8 1/2"; Thomas Vivares 'South East View of Wimbourne St Giles, the seat of Anthony Ashley Cooper Earl of Shaftesbury, 9 1/4" x 13"; W H Toms 'The South Prospect of Hather Thorpe in Lincolnshire, hand-coloured, 16" x 23" (trimmed to margins) etc.
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