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The medal to Lt Berry sold for a hammer price of £700 on Thursday.

As part of the Jack Webb sale at DNW next month, there are a large number of CIV QSAs going under the hammer. Over 90 catalogued so far. It will be interesting to see what so many medals to the same unit does to the prices.

www.dnw.co.uk/auctions/catalogue/results...=532&heading_id=3979

It is a while since we last saw William MacKinnon.

Pictures courtesy of DNW



GCB LG 3 June 1916.
KCB LG 26 July 1908.
CB LG 19 April 1901.
KCVO LG 21 July 1911: ‘On the occasion of His Majesty’s visit to Wales.’
CVO LG 22 August 1902.

William Henry Mackinnon was born on 15 December 1852, the son of William Alexander Mackinnon, 34th Chief of Clan Fingon and was educated at Harrow School. Commissioned Ensign and Lieutenant, by purchase, into the Grenadier Guards in 1870, he was advanced Lieutenant and Captain 1872, and in 1884 appointed Assistant Military Secretary to General Sir J. L. A. Simmons, Royal Engineers, commanding the troops in Malta and then Private Secretary to the Governor of Madras in India in 1885-87. He was promoted Colonel, on the Staff, and appointed Assistant Adjutant-General at Home District in 1893 and was serving as Assistant Adjutant-General 1st Infantry Division (Division of Guards) in 1898.

Appointed Colonel Commandant of the City of London Imperial Volunteers on 22 December 1899, Mackinnon led this Corps in South Africa until it was disbanded in November 1900, commanding the troops at Orange River. He was also present at the operations in the Orange Free State in May 1900, including the action at Zand River; at the operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900, including the actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill (11 and 12 June); and the operations in the Transvaal west of Pretoria in August 1900. For his meritorious services during the campaign in South Africa he was Mentioned in Despatches (LG 16 April 1901).

Mackinnon was invested as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1902 and later appointed Director of Auxiliary Forces in 1905, Director-General of the Territorial Force in 1908 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Western Command in 1910. He retired in 1916.

Sold together with two books: Journal of the CIV in South Africa by Major-General W. H. Mackinnon, CB, with armorial bookplate of Sir Alfred J. Newton, Bart. Governor of the Honourable the Irish Society and containing loose photograph of CIV troops embarking, 24cm x 18cm, the reverse inscribed in Mackinnon’s hand ‘Embarkation at Southampton 1900 of the CIV’; Standing Orders for the Brigade of Guards, 1894, this being Mackinnon’s personal copy containing many annotations and signed inside the front end leaf ‘W. H. Mackinnon, Received and Paid for 7.5.94’

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (Lieut. J. F. Duncan. C.I.V.);
City of London Imperial Volunteers for South Africa 1899-1900 Medallion, 76mm, bronze, the obverse featuring a seated female figure with sword, presenting the freedom of the city to a uniformed man in the City Imperial Volunteers, the reverse featuring the radiant sun of the British Empire shining behind a hill which is surmounted by a tall staff flying the Union Flag and C.I.V. Flag, guarded by two guns, the edge inscribed in large capitals ‘C. O. Greenwell, Lieut. C.I.V.’, in fitted and embossed case of issue, edge inscribed in large capitals ‘J. F. Duncan, Lieut. C.I.V.’ in fitted and embossed case of issue.

Provenance: Baldwin’s, November 1971.

DSO London Gazette 4 June 1917.

James Fergus Duncan was born in Southampton in 1873, the eldest son of Mr and Mrs David Duncan, of Thornleigh, Hampshire. Engaged for some time as a Solicitor in London, he joined the Honourable Artillery Company in 1895 and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the City Imperial Volunteers on 12 January 1900. He served as a Lieutenant with the C.I.V. Battery in South Africa during the Boer War and was present at the fierce action around Barkin Kop near Bethlehem on 3 July 1900. In the course of this action, the guns of the C.I.V. and the 38th Battery, Royal Field Artillery had been taken to a ridge where they came under fire and during a pause in the action, while the escort had been moved to the rear, the Boers counter-attacked and gained temporary possession of the guns of the 38th Battery. A battle for repossession of which then ensued:

‘All the gunners too were killed or wounded. The Boers were thus in actual possession of three out of four of the 38th Battery guns. Fortunately, instead of pressing forwards at once towards the remaining 38th gun, and, over the intervening rise, to the H.A.C. guns, which were completely at their mercy, they delayed to secure their prisoners and to attempt the removal of the already captured guns. This delay gave time for help to arrive. The Australians, with Captain Budworth at their head, soon appeared on the scene again, were met with a hot fire, but pushed forward with such determination that the Boers abandoned the guns and made off, covered in their retreat by a renewal of shell-fire... As a result of this action the 38th Battery, besides a large number of men, had lost all their officers by death or wounds; and, accordingly, Captain Budworth took temporary command of them, with Lieutenant Duncan, also of the Battery, under him.’ (The H.A.C. in South Africa by Basil Williams and Erskine Childers)

Duncan was made Honorary Lieutenant in the Army on 1 December 1900 and Mentioned in Despatches for his services in South Africa - most likely for gallantry at Barkin Kop (London Gazette 10 September 1901).

On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of the Great War, Duncan was transferred from the Veteran Company and made Captain, B Battery in the Honourable Artillery Company, Territorial Force. Serving on the Western Front with the Royal Field Artillery from 12 December 1915, Duncan was twice more Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 18 May 1917 and 21 May 1918) and was awarded the DSO whilst a Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel (Capt. Territorial Force), 166th Brigade. He was demobilised to the Territorial Reserve as Lieutenant-Colonel on 18 December 1919, and relinquished his commission on 30 September 1921.

Pictures courtesy of DNW

Captain S. Firth, Royal Garrison Artillery, who served as Quartermaster of the City of London Imperial Volunteers

Egypt (1) Tel-El-Kebir (6345 By. Sgt. Maj: S. Firth. R..);
QSA (4) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill (Capt. S. Firth. R.G.A.);
Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued

Together with the recipient’s City of London Imperial Volunteers for South Africa 1899-1900 Medallion, 76mm, bronze, the obverse featuring a seated female figure with sword, presenting the freedom of the city to a uniformed man in the City Imperial Volunteers, the reverse featuring the radiant sun of the British Empire shining behind a hill which is surmounted by a tall staff flying the Union Flag and C.I.V. Flag, guarded by two guns, the edge inscribed in large capitals ‘S. Firth, Captn. C.I.V.’, in fitted and embossed case of issue, the case additionally named ‘Captain S. Firth, R.A.,’,

Samuel Firth was born at Ovenden, Yorkshire in 1850, the son of James Butler Firth and his wife Mary Ann. Educated privately, he enlisted in the Royal Artillery in April 1868 and joined the 16th Brigade at Morar, India in 1870. Remaining in India until 1874, his was among the first batch of British troops to go to the Suez Canal. He served in the Egyptian war of 1882, where as Battery Sergeant-Major, he was present at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, (Medal with clasp and Khedive’s Star) and was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 2 November 1882).

Returning to England, Firth was commissioned Quartermaster and Honorary Lieutenant on 1 April 1884, and moving to Scarborough in 1889, he became Quartermaster of the Yorkshire Artillery. Gazetted Honorary Captain 1 April 1894, he was appointed Quartermaster of the City of London Imperial Volunteers on 6 January 1900 and served with them in South Africa during the Boer War. He was present at operations in the Orange Free State, including the action at Zand River; at the operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond Hill (11 and 12 June); and at the operations in the Transvaal, west of Pretoria. For his services in South Africa he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 10 September 1901) and granted the Honorary rank of Major. The City Press of 21 November 1900 published an interview with Major Firth in which he describes a hitherto unrecorded act of Boer treachery which occurred at Frederikstad during the campaign.

After the war Firth was appointed Quartermaster of the Royal Garrison Artillery and was transferred to the Staff of the Forfar and Kincardine Royal Garrison Artillery Militia. Retiring from the Army and returning to his home town of Scarborough in 1905, he became a member of Scarborough Town Council 1907 to 1910 and during the Great War he commanded the Scarborough Athletic Voluntary Force.

He died at Scarborough in 1933.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (1513 Gnr: B. D. W. Archer, C.I.V.);
[ 1914-15 Star ];
British War and Victory Medals (442 Sjt. B. D. W. Archer. Surr. Yeo.);
Territorial Force Efficiency Medal, GVR (442 L. Sjt: B. W. Archer. Surrey Yeo.

Bertram Dean Wykeham Archer was born in Fulham, London in 1876 and was admitted into the Honourable Artillery Company in January 1900, measuring 6’2” in height. He served with the C Sub-division of the City Imperial Volunteers Battery in South Africa during the Boer War and upon his return to England, resigned from the HAC in December 1900.

He served during the Great War with the Surrey Yeomanry on the Western Front from 22 December 1914, initially in the rank of Sergeant and was later discharged to a commission, serving as temporary Second Lieutenant in the Army Service Corps from 2 March 1918. He died at St. Agnes, Cornwall in 1953 and is buried in All Saints Churchyard, Martock, Somerset.