TOPIC:

Breakfast during a bombardment
Officers of the Devons 'making the best of it'

Source: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/19-ephemera/3...-jack?start=54#93200

Picture courtesy of Dominic Winter

IGS 1854 (1) Burma 1889-92 (1999 Pte J. Johns 2d Bn Devon Reg), engraved in running script;
QSA (6) Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing’s Nek, South Africa 1901 (1999 Pte J. Johns, Devon: Regt)

John Johns was born in Helston, Cornwall in 1870, he joined the Devonshire Regiment in 1888, he served with the Momeik and North Eastern Column in Burma fighting bandits and after a period in South Africa, he was discharged in 1901 having served 13 years with the Colours.

Picture courtesy of Dominic Winter

IGS 1895 (2) Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (Major A.G. Spratt 1st Bn Devon Regt), engraved in running script;
QSA (4) Cape Colony, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Major A.G. Spratt, Devon Rgt:)

Provenance: DNW, 25 September 2019, lot 271.

Arthur Graves Spratt was born in Malta in 1854. He was the third son of Vice-Admiral Thomas Abel Brimmage Spratt, C.B., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.R.G.S. (1811-88) and grandson of Commander James Spratt, R.N. (1771-1853), who distinguished himself, when a Master’s Mate in H.M.S. Defiance at the Battle of Trafalgar, in boarding the French ship L’Aigle. Spratt was commissioned Sub-Lieutenant in 1st West India Regiment in 1874 and advanced to Lieutenant two years later. Between 1880 and 1882 he was stationed at Fort Adjutant on the Cape Coast Castle, Gold Coast and promoted to Captain in 1882. Spratt exchanged to 1st Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment in 1883 and was stationed in Dublin. He advanced to Major in 1892, by which time the Battalion had moved to Alexandria, in Egypt, but had been warned for posting to India in 1893. The Battalion served on the North-West Frontier 1897-98 as part of the Tirah Field Force and Spratt subsequently received the India Medal 1895-1902, with clasps ‘Punjab Frontier 1897-98’ and ‘Tirah 1897-98’, having been present at the capture of the Sampagha and Arhangha passes. Spratt next served as Second-in-Command of the 2nd Battalion during the Second Boer War, subsequently receiving the Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902 with four clasps. He retired in 1902, and resided in Brampford Speke, Devon. On the outbreak of the Great War, Spratt briefly commanded the 3rd/4th (subsequently the 4th Reserve) Battalion of his regiment but was retired with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in March 1916; he does not appear to have qualified for, or claimed, any First World War campaign medals. He died, unmarried, in Brampford Speke in March 1939 and was buried in the parish churchyard.

Picture courtesy of Dominic Winter

DSO GV;
QSA (3) Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902;
1914 Star and clasp ;
British War and Victory Medals with MID;

DSO London Gazette: 14 January 1916 ‘For distinguished service in the field’ MID London Gazette: 1 January 1916

Claude Henry Maxwell Imbert-Terry (1880-1942) was educated at Charterhouse and joined the Devonshire Regiment in 1901.

He served in the Boer War and WWI where he was mentioned in despatches and also in the French despatches on 30 November 1915 for the Battle of Loos, he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel commanding a Battalion of King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1916.

The Boer War DCM group to Corporal E A Stebbing is here: www.angloboerwar.com/forum/5-medals-and-...-war?start=432#96314

Pictures courtesy of Noonan's

DSO VR;
Coronation 1902, unnamed as issued;
IGS 1854 (1) Burma 1889-92 (Capt. N. J. Goodwyn, 2nd. Bn. Devon. Regt.);
East and West Africa 1887 (1) Sierra Leone 1898-99 (Capt. N. J. Goodwyn, 2/Dev. R.) officially engraved naming;
QSA (4) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (Capt. N. J. Goodwyn, D.S.O. Devon Rgt.) officially engraved naming,
KSA (2) (Lt. Col. D.S.O. N. J. Goodwyn. Devon Rgt.) officially engraved naming

DSO London Gazette 9 January 1900: ‘In recognition of services whilst employed in Sierra Leone.’

MID London Gazettes 29 December 1899 (Sierra Leone); 8 February 1901, 10 September 1901, and 29 July 1902 (all South Africa).



Norton James Goodwyn was born at Freshwater, Isle of Wight, in 1861. Educated at Clifton College, he was an Honorary Queen’s Cadet at the Royal Military College Sandhurst. A keen sportsman and gymnast, he was commissioned Lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment on 9 September 1882, and embarked with the 1st Battalion for Egypt in February 1891 before being posted to the 2nd Battalion in Burma on 24 September 1891, where he commanded the Irrawaddy Column from December 1891 to April 1892. Appointed Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion in Burma and Egypt in 1892, he was named as a joint co-respondent in the high society divorce case, Alston v. Alston, at the High Court of Justice in November 1894, and was subsequently employed with the Egyptian Army between 1894 and 1896.

Attached to the West African Regiment for operations in Sierra Leone from 9 April to 24 June 1899, Goodwyn took part in the Mendiland Expedition, including Songo Town-Kwalu Expedition, and also in the Karene and Protectorate Expeditions. With the assistance of the Royal Navy he landed a small party of West African Regiment at Shenge and on the Bumpe River, and between these places and Kwalu in July 1898. He was in command of two Companies of the West African Regiment during the successful capture of Bai Bureh, Chief of the Timmini tribe, Sierra Leone, on 11 November 1898, and for his services was Mentioned in Despatches and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.

Rejoining the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in 1899, Goodwyn embarked with them to Durban in October 1899 only to be severely wounded in the Battle of Colenso on 15 December 1899. Having recovered from his wounds he rejoined the Battalion in August 1900 and was appointed to command Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry in Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Cape Colony. Promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in recognition of his services in South Africa on 26 October 1902, he was also Mentioned in Despatches on a further three occasions. Appointed to the Staff, Indian Army as Inspector of Gymnasia on 19 May 1904, he travelled home to the U.K. on leave via Australia in March 1906, but was taken ill and diagnosed with enteric fever whilst at Sydney in April 1906, and died after five weeks’ sickness at Point Piper, Sydney, on 6 May 1906, at the age of 44. He is buried at the Church of England Cemetery, Waverley, overlooking Bondi Beach and the Pacific Ocean, and is also commemorated on a Memorial Tablet at All Saints Church, East Budleigh, Devon.