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From the next DNW auction

KCB, silver, silver-gilt, gold and enamels;
Sudan (Bimb: E. G. T. Bainbridge, E.A.);
QSA (5) RoK, Paard, Joh, DH, Witt (Lt: Col: E. G. T. Bainbridge, E/ Kent Rgt.);
1914-15 Star (Brig. Gen. E. G. T. Bainbridge, CB);
BWM and VM with (MID) (Maj. Gen. Sir E. G. T. Bainbridge);
Legion of Honour, Officer’s breast badge, gold and enamels, minor chips to green enamel wreaths;
French Croix de Guerre 1914-1918, with bronze palm;
Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, (3) Hafir, Sudan 1897, Khartoum (Lieut. Bainbridge, The Buffs & Bimb. E.A.);
Legion of Honour, 3rd Class neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels;
Order of the Medjidie, 3rd Class neck badge, silver, gold and enamel



Edmond Guy Tulloch Bainbridge was born on 11 November 1867, eldest son of late Colonel Sir Edmond Bainbridge, KCB, RA He was educated at Marlborough College and Sandhurst, and commissioned into the Buffs (E. Kent R.) in 1888; Captain 1897; Brevet Major 1898; Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1901; Major 1905; Brevet Colonel 1905; Colonel 1912; Major-General 1917. He was attached to the Egyptian Army from March 1896 to November 1898, and served in the Dongola expedition of 1896, with the 1st Battalion, Egyptian Army. During the Nile Expedition of 1897, he was detached for service with the gunboats and supervised their safe passage over the Fourth Cataract in August 1897. He next served in the Nile Expedition of 1898, and during the first phase was employed on the lines of communication at Geneinetti with half of 5th Egyptian Battalion, and consequently missed the battle of the Atbara. He was subsequently present at the battle of Khartoum.

During the South African War, 1899-1901, he was attached to the staff as DAAG, but when Lord Roberts re-organised the mounted troops he was given command of the 7th Mounted Infantry Battalion and graded A.A.G. He saw plenty of fighting, including the operations in OFS, and at Paard, and the actions at Poplar Grove, Houtnek, the Vet and Zand Rivers. In May and June 1900 He took part in the operations in the Tr, including actions near Joh and DH. His command was then moved to the OFS to join in the Guerrilla war with the Boer Commandos. He was present at the Witt operations which resulted in the surrender of Prinsloo at the end of July, and at the relief of Ladybrand in September. He acquired the reputation of a capable commander of mounted infantry in the field, and was given his brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy in November 1900. In February 1901, he elected to return to the Egyptian Army, and commanded Khartoum Military District, holding the rank of Kaimakam, during the period 1901-03.
On returning home in 1903, he took over command of the School of Mounted Infantry at Kilworth, Ireland. In 1905 he returned to his regiment to command a company as a much bemedalled brevet Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1910 he was appointed General Staff Officer 2, Northumbrian Division (Territorial Force) and was finished with regimental duty. In March 1912 he was promoted to substantive Colonel, and moved to GSO1, Western Command. At the outbreak of the Great War he was appointed Brigadier-General, General Staff, First Army, Central Force.


Pictures courtesy of DNW

In April 1915, however, he received the command of the 110th (Leicester) Infantry Brigade, 37th Division of the New Armies, which brigade he took out to France at the end of July. In June 1916 he was given the 25th Infantry Division, being promoted to Major-General the following January, and commanded it during the battles of the Somme, at Messines, and at Pilkem Ridge (Third Ypres) in 1917; and throughout the German offensives on the Somme and on the Lys in 1918. It was the fate of the 25th Division to be included in the IXth Corps, which was overwhelmed in the German attack along the Aisne in May 1918. Bainbridge’s brigades were sent up into the battle piecemeal from corps reserve, and he was left with no fighting troops under his command. When the 25th Division was reconstituted he came home to take over the duties of an Inspector of Infantry, an appointment which he held for six months, from August 1918 until January 1919. After commanding the troops at Shoreham he was given the 2nd Division at Aldershot, in June 1919, retiring from the army at the expiration of his command in 1923.

Sir Guy Bainbridge died on 27 September 1943, aged 76, at Leigh, Newtown, Newbury. His funeral was held in Newtown Parish Church, Newbury, on 1 October, and apart from family members the more prominent mourners included Generals Sir William Thwaites, Sir Alexander Godley, the Hon. Sir Richard Stuart-Wortley, and many other senior military officers. Sold with various original photographs, four original M.I.D. certificates for the Great War period and additional research including a modern reprint of The 25th Division in France and Flanders, by Kincaid-Smith, 429pp.

A SAGS group to the East Kents from the next DNW auction.

Unusual to include so many unnamed medals, It looks and feels as though the group has been rebuilt around the SAGS.


Picture courtesy of DNW

CB b/b s/g;
SAGS (1) 1879 (Lieut: D. F. Lewis. 2-3rd Foot.);
Egypt, undated reverse (1) Gemaizah 1888, unnamed as issued;
Sudan, unnamed as issued;
Coronation 1902, silver;
Ottoman Empire, Order of the Medjidie, Third Class neck badge, silver, gold and enamel, with mint mark to reverse, with full neck riband;
Spain, Kingdom, Order of Military Merit, breast badge, non-combatant’s type, silver-gilt and white enamel, lacking integral top riband bar;
Khedive’s Star, undated, unnamed as issued;
Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 8 clasps, Firket, Hafir, Abu Hamed, Sudan 1897, The Atbara, Khartoum, Soudan 1899, Gedid, unnamed as issued,

CB (Military) London Gazette 15 November 1898: ‘In recognition of services in Egypt and the Sudan, including Battles of Atbara and Khartoum.’

Ottoman Order of the Medjidie, Third Class London Gazette 17 January 1890: ‘In recognition of their services in the actions at Toski and Gemaizah whilst actually and entirely employed beyond Her Majesty’s Dominions with the Egyptian Army.’

David Francis Lewis was born on 21 October 1855 in Buttington, Mongomeryshire, the eldest son of the Reverend D. Phillips Lewis, rector of Llandrinio. He was educated at Oswestry School from where he was gazetted sub-lieutenant unattached dated 11 February 1875 and proceeded to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst the same year. In January 1876 he joined the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot, ‘The Buffs’, and in 1877 was promoted to a lieutenantcy (ante-dated to 11 February 1875). He served as district adjutant in Natal from April to November 1878 and during the Zulu War with The Buffs, firstly in the action at Inyezane, and then at the investment of Eshowe where, on 11 March 1879, he suffered a bullet wound to the head while out on a working party. He was Mentioned in Colonel C.K. Pearson’s Despatches (London Gazette 16 May 1879).

Remaining with the second battalion, he was musketry instructor from 1880 until 1883, promoted Captain 1884 and appointed aide-de-camp to Sir George Bowen, Governor of Hong Kong, 1884-85. In the following year he joined the Egyptian Army seeing much active service including: Second in command of the Frontier Force, he served during Operations on the Frontier and East Sudan as Commanding Officer of the 9th Sudanese Battalion; in the action at Gemaizah, 1888, during the Mahdist War (Ottoman Order of the Medjidie Third class). In 1891 he transferred to the Cheshire Regiment, still attached to the Egyptian Army, was promoted Major in the British Army, and in 1896 he was advanced Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel.

During the reconquest of the Sudan, ‘Lewis Bey’ commanded the 1st Brigade in the Dongola campaign 1896, (Mentioned in Despatches London Gazette 3 November 1896) and 3rd Brigade in 1898, including the Battles of the Atbara and Omdurman: for his services he was awarded the C.B., and was twice Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 24 May 1898 and 30 September 1898). At the end of 1898 he was engaged in various operations on the Blue Nile including commanding an infantry brigade at the Battle of Roseires where, in overall command, he inflicted a decisive defeat on Ahmed Fedil’s Army in the Cataract south of Roseires.

A Good Dusting by Henry Keown-Boyd takes up the story:

‘The Welshman’s force was small and stricken with malaria but it consisted of experienced 10th Soudanese under Lieutenant-Colonel Nason of the Cameronians, a small detachment of the 9th Soudanese under Captain Sir Henry Hill of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, two Maxims handled by Royal Marine sergeants and several hundred Friendlies under a former Mahdist, Sheikh Bakr Mustafa. On Christmas afternoon, Sheikh Bakr, patrolling the west bank, reported that Ahmed had attempted to cross the Blue Nile but had been forced back. Lewis, who marched down the east bank that same afternoon from Roseires, found the Mahdist position the following morning at a point where the river divides into two fast-flowing streams around a large sandy island. Most of Ahmed’s force was on this island but the wily emir himself had, contrary to Bakr’s earlier report, reached the west bank with a group of riflemen, leaving Saadallah in command on the island. Sergeants Lambert and Trowbridge immediately opened up with their Maxims but the enemy were well protected from long-range fire by sandhills and it soon became apparent to Lewis that they could only be dislodged by an infantry attack.

With difficulty the 10th and Friendlies crossed the deep, fast torrent onto the island and with typically fearless Soudanese elan under a blizzard of fire drove the defenders from their positions into the river on the west side of the island where many, including Saadallah, were drowned. But Soudanese casualties too had been heavy in the fierce fighting around the sandhills and the 10th lost twenty-five men killed, one missing, presumably drowned, and 122 officers and men (including major C. Fergusson, D.S.O. Grenadier Guards) wounded, nearly four times the battalion’s casualties at the Battle of the Atbara. The friendlies also lost a number of men killed and wounded. The two Marine sergeants who, aided by their escort of 9th Soudanese under Yuzbashi (Capt) Mohamed Abu Shaila, had managed to manhandle their machine-guns onto the island in support of the infantry and to engage Ahmed Fadel’s riflemen on the west bank, were among those decorated, both receiving the D.C.M.

Ahmed Fadel, well placed for flight, escaped to join Khalifa in Kordofan with a diminishing band of followers. In addition to Lewis’s estimate of 500 Mahdist dead, about 1700 had been captured.’

Lewis was advanced Lieutenant-Colonel on 18 January 1899 and his detailed report of the Roseires engagement was included in Kitchener’s Despatch of 8 February 1899 (London Gazette 5 May 1899). He saw also took part in the Nile Expedition later in 1899 and in the operations which resulted in the final defeat of the Khalifa, the action at Um Dibaykarat (Gedid), organising a flying column and commanding an infantry brigade, he was Mentioned in Despatches a sixth time (London Gazette 30 January 1900), receiving a glowing tribute from Colonel Sir Reginald Wingate, Commanding Troops on the White Nile, for his services in this his final action:

‘To Brevet Colonel Lewis, commanding the Infantry Brigade, my most cordial thanks are due. The previous good services of this gallant officer are well known. On him devolved the arduous duty of rapidly concentrating the flying column at Fachi Shoya, prior to my arrival. Throughout the recent operations he has given fresh proof of his capacity for command, and to his energy and great practical knowledge of the handling of troops I attribute, in a large measure, the success which has been achieved.’

After his return to England, on 14 March 1900 Lewis received the appointment of aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria and subsequently to King Edward VII.

Seeking new adventures, Colonel Lewis was next engaged as a war correspondent for The Times newspaper, reporting from Morocco with the French Army in 1907 and with the Spanish Forces around Melilla in 1909. After the outbreak of the Great War, he raised the 16th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment in October 1914 and was County Commandant of the Warwickshire Volunteer Corps. He also served on the county magisterial bench for Warwickshire. He died at his residence, Hungerdown, near Chippenham on 2 February 1927.

A salesroom notice to the effect that:

Another group, with the South Africa Medal, Egypt and Sudan Medal, and the Queen’s Sudan Medals all officially named to the recipient, is known to exist and is held by the National Army Museum

led to this group going unsold this morning

Picture courtesy of the London Medal Co

IGS 1895 (1) Punjab Frontier 1897-98; (4917 PTE: T. BALDWIN 1ST: BN: “THE BUFFS”);
QSA (2) Transvaal, South Africa 1902; (4917 CPL. P.T. BALDWIN, E. KENT REGT.)

Awarded to Private (No.4917) P.T. Baldwin, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment - the Buffs, who was present during the operations on the Punjab Frontier which lasted from 10th June 1897 to 6th April 1898, and was later present with the 2nd Battalion during the Boer War in South Africa on operations in the Transvaal during 1902, being shortly afterwards transferred to the Army Reserve.

Collectors of medals to the EKR should have a look at the London Medal Company website as they have several items for sale.

london-medals.co.uk/latest-stock

From the next City Coins auction, November 2020

Brugspruit, 26 June 1901

At 9pm on 26 June Gen Ben Viljoen’s commando attempted to cross the railway line near Brugspruit by simultaneously attacking the blockhouses at Kilo 370½ and Kilo 372. The attack on the Kilo 370½ blockhouse, which was defended by 14 men of “The Buffs”, was repulsed after a hotly contested half-hour engagement. However, the Kilo 372 blockhouse, garrisoned by 7 men of “The Buffs”, was taken by the Boers. Viljoen, in his memoirs, states that his Field Cornet Myburgh was killed by a shot that went off as the surrendering soldiers threw out their rifles. Viljoen proceeded to pass across his main body, guns and convoy under a heavy fire. The operation was barely half completed when an armoured train appeared on the scene.

Turning on its searchlights, it wreaked havoc among the Boers with shrapnel and Maxim bullets, thereby ending the crossing attempt. Eventually Viljoen, with half of the commando, ended up north of the line and his 2 Commandants south of the line with the other half of the commando.

QSA (4) RoK, Paard, Drief, Tvl (2995 Pte R. Bendell, E Kent Regt)

In the Regimental History “With ‘The Buffs’ in South Africa”, p96 Pte Bendell is mentioned as one of 7 “men mentioned as deserving of recognition in the affair of the 26th”.

Unfortunately, no further details are given.