TOPIC:

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (0) (13752 Pte. L. Cooper, R.A.M.C.)

Served with 21st Bearer Company, RAMC and died of enteric fever at Mooi River on 24 August 1900.

Entitled to CC and Witterbergen (WO100/223p233)

Picture courtesy of Spink

Egypt (3) Tel-El-Kebir, Suakin 1885, Tofrek (Surgeon. J. Osburne. A. M. Dept.);
QSA (4) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1902 (Lt. Col. J. Osburne. R.A.M.C.);
Khedive's Star 1884

Spink state approximately 7 Surgeons earned the 'Tofrek' clasp.

John Osburne was born at Lindville, Blackrock, Cork, Ireland on 31 July 1856, the son of John and Katherine Osburne. Qualifying as a Surgeon, Osburne joined the Army Medical Service on 5 February 1881 and is recorded living at 26 London Road, Pembroke St. Mary, Pembroke, Wales in the census the next month. Posted to Egypt he was present for the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir in September of that year and is listed as Surgeon Major on 5 February 1893.

Oddly however when Osburne appears on the roll for the Battle of Tofrek, having returned to Egypt and thence to Sudan in 1885, it is as a Surgeon. The roll includes one Surgeon-Major, Fleming, and seven Surgeons, including Osburne.

He was still in service with the Royal Army Medical Corps on the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War and embarked for South Africa on 21 January 1900. Serving at No. 6 General Hospital in Johannesburg until 29 May 1901, he was invalided from the country. Once back in England he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel on 20 July 1901.

Osburne retired on 11 January 1902 and although despite being on the retired list he was employed at Galway between 1904-1916.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

DSO GV;
QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut: F. A .Stephens, R.A.M.C.) engraved naming;
KSA (2) (Lt. F. A. Stephens. R.A.M.C.) engraved naming;
1914-15 Star (Major F. A. Stephens. R.A.M.C.);
British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Col. F. A. Stephens.) BWM officially re-impressed;
Serbia, Kingdom, Order of St. Sava, Officer’s badge, silver-gilt and enamel, Bishop with red robes

DSO London Gazette 18 February 1915: ‘For services in connection with operations in the Field.’

Serbian Order of St. Sava, Officer London Gazette 28 January 1918.

Frederick Archer Stephens was born on 5 January 1872 and was educated at Sherborne School, and King's College, London, for the medical profession. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 14 November 1900, and served in South Africa during the Boer War as a Civil Surgeon. He was present in operations in Cape Colony, south of Orange River, from July to 29 November 1900; operations in the Transvaal from December 1900 to 31 May 1902; and operations in Orange River Colony and Cape Colony from 30 November 1900 to May 1901. For his services he received the Queen's Medal with three clasps, and the King's Medal with two clasps.

Stephens was promoted Captain on 14 November 1903, and was a Territorial Adjutant from 15 June 1908 to 31 October 1911. He was promoted Major on 14 November 1912, and served during the Great War initially in Hospital Ships from 13 August 1914. For his services he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 17 February 1915) and created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. He afterwards served with the Serbian and British Armies in Macedonia, and was Acting Lieutenant-Colonel from September to December 1918, being awarded the Serbian Order of St. Sava.

Sold with the original Bestowal Document for the D.S.O., in OHMS envelope, together with a copy of the Statutes of the Order; the recipient’s Army Correspondence Book, principally used by the recipient as a diary, covering the period June 1916 to February 1918, together with various medical entries; and a large quantity of letters (many of them congratulating the recipient on the award of the DSO), postcards, and other ephemera.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

MBE (MIlitary, 1st type);
QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (9559 Pte. W. Greaves, R.A.M.C.);
KSA (2) (9559 Pte. W. Greaves, R.A.M.C.);
1914-15 Star (33428. S. Mjr. W. Greaves. R.A.M.C.);
British War and Victory Medals (Q.M. & Lieut. W. Greaves.);
Army LS&GC Ed VII (9559. L. Sjt: W. Greaves. R.A.M.C.)

MBE London Gazette 3 June 1919: ‘For valuable services rendered in connection with Military Operations in Egypt.’

Walter Greaves was born in London in 1873 and attested for the Medical Staff Corps at Kingston-upon-Thames on 29 February 1892, having previously served in the 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. He served in South Africa during the Boer War from 31 August 1900 to 3 November 1902, and was promoted Corporal on 2 April 1906. Appointed Lance Sergeant on 1 January 1910, he was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with Gratuity per Army Order 254 of 1910, and was discharged on 28 February 1913, after 21 years’ service.

Re-enlisting on the outbreak of the Great War, Greaves served with the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Sergeant Major on the Western Front from 7 September 1915. He saw further service in Egypt, and was commissioned Lieutenant (Quartermaster) on 2 September 1918. For his services during the Great War in Egypt he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. He relinquished his commission with the rank of Captain, and died in 1956.

Picture courtesy of Noonan's

QSA (6) Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek, South Africa 1901, unofficial rivets between fifth and sixth clasps (Major J. D. T. Reckitt. R.A.M.C.) engraved naming

John Dennis Thorpe Reckitt was born on 9 January 1855 and served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in South Africa during the Boer War. He served in Natal from 1899 to 1900, where he was present during the Relief of Ladysmith, including the action at Colenso, and also in the operations of 17 to 24 January 1900, and the action at Spion Kop; the operations of 5 to 7 February 1900 and the action at Vaal Kranz; the operations on Tugela Heights from 14 to 27 February 1900, and the action at Pieters Hill; and the action at Laing’s Nek from 6 to 9 June 1900. He saw further service in the Transvaal from 30 November 1900 to April 1901.

For his services in South Africa, Reckitt was three times Mentioned in Despatches, the first time by General Hildyard in his report of the inconclusive Battle of Willow Grange on 24 November 1899: ‘Major Reckitt commanded the Bearer company and did good service both at the time and in connection with the removal of the wounded’; and then again in General Buller’s Despatches for 30 March and 19 June 1900. Unusually for someone Mentioned on three occasions, and who was present at some of the fiercest battles of the campaign, Reckitt received no gallantry award. He subsequently transferred to the Retired List with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Mooi River