TOPIC:

Hello Meurig,
Yes, I agree, I am not as concerned if a recipient actually wore an item that was not, in the excepted sense, original, but, it is always wise to buy as original as you can, so any envelopes, packets, bestowal letters, permission to wear etc, but, quite often that was the sort of stuff that just got filed in the bin.
However, I still like to see, groups mounted for wear by the recipient and not for display by the collector, so done at the time with silk ribbon etc.
The whole market is open to fraud and deception and has been for years, too many dishonest people around!
Regards Frank

SWB wrote:

Frank Kelley wrote: Hello Justin,
This sort of thing really does infuriate me, if you are paying out large sums of money, you really do need it to be all original and not just bloody well made up!
Kind regards Frank

I hear you Frank - but even getting the medals from the recipient is no guarantee they are his originals; medals/orders get lost, recipients tell tales..

Meurig

The group to Major J A Kellett, RE.

James Albert Kellett entered the Royal Engineers in 1891. Served as a Quartermaster Serjeant during the Boer War. Served in the Orange Free State, February-May 1900, including operations at Paardeberg, and actions at Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Vet River and Zand River. Also operations in Transvaal, May-June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg and Pretoria; and operations east of Pretoria, July-October 1900. For his services he was MID (LG 10 September 1901), awarded QSA (4) and promoted to Warrant Officer.

During the Great War he was granted the honorary rank of Major and awarded the OBE and Legion of Honour 5th Class.


Picture courtesy of DNW.

A group containing the Manitoba Tribute Medal for the Great War.


Picture courtesy of DNW

MM GV (781505 Pte. J. Stevens, 1/Can. M.R.), QSA (3) CC TH RoL (4942 Cpl. J. Stevens, 2nd Rl. Fus.), BWM & VM (781505 A.C.S. Mjr. J. Stevens, 1-C.M.R.); Municipality of Manitoba Tribute Medal 1914-18 (Sergt.-Maj. James Stevens).

James Stevens was born in Guildford, Surrey, on 3 February 1877. Subsequently enlisting in the Royal Fusiliers, he witnessed active service as a Sergeant in the 2nd Battalion during the Boer War, and was wounded in the relief of Ladysmith operations on 25 February 1900 - receiving a bullet wound to the face which fractured his skull. Emigrating to Canada at the end of hostilities in South Africa, he was employed as a Baker at Outlook, Saskatchewan, and enlisted into the 128th (Moose Jaw) Battalion in December 1915. Subsequently transferred to the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles, he joined the unit out in France in March 1918 and was awarded the MM for his gallantry in actions on the Cambrai-Douai Road Sector during the great push through the Hindenburg Line. MM LG 3 July 1919. Discharged at Outlook in March 1919, Stevens died at Brandon, Manitoba, in October 1947

A group containing the Khedive Sudan 1910-22 Medal to Captain F V B Kirwan, Army Service Corps, late Royal Fusiliers.


Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (4) RoK Paar Tra Drie (Lieut., 2 Rl. Fus.), KSA (2) (Lieut., Rl. Fusrs.), Khedive’s Sudan 1910-22, 1st issue, 1 clasp, Sudan 1912, unnamed.

Francis Vernon Brudenell Kirwan was born on 15 May 1877. He was commissioned from a Trooper in Kitchener’s Horse into the 95th Company, 24th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (Metropolitan Mounted Rifles) on 22 May 1901 and then into 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Served in A.S.C. in the Sudan from 16 June 1910 as a Captain (Bimbashi) but died in England of enteric fever on 10 May 1912. Kirwan is listed on the Plantagenet roll of the blood royal.

One of 31 Khedive’s Sudan Medals with clasp for ‘Sudan 1912’ awarded to British officers.

An MC, MM group Warrant Officer 1st Class F J Colton, Royal Scots.

MC GV ‘7143 C.S.M. F. J. Colton, 2nd Bn. The Royal Scots’, MM GV (7143 C.S. Mjr., F. J. Colton, M.C., 2/R. Scots), QSA (3) CC OFS Tr (7143 Pte. F. Colton, Royal Scots) correction to initial, KSA (2) (7143 Corpl., F. J. Colton, Rl. Scots), 1914 Star, with clasp (7143 Sjt. F. J. Colton, 2/R. Scots), BWM & VM (7143 A.W.O. Cl. 1 F. J. Colton, R. Scots).


Pictures courtesy of DNW

M.I.D. Lord Kitchener’s Despatch 1 June 1902. ‘For gallantry and initiative in repulse of a Boer raiding party at Balmoral, on 5th April 1902.’

Frederick Joseph Colton was born in 1877, the sixteenth child of a family of seventeen. He enlisted into the Royal Scots on 22 February 1900 and entered South Africa on 22 October 1900. Of the seven boys in the family, one other, the youngest joined the Royal Scots and five of them served in the Boer War.

In the Boer War Frederick Colton distinguished himself in an action at Balmoral, 5 April 1902, being specially promoted to Corporal by Lord Kitchener for the gallantry shown. The Diary of Services of the First Battalion The Royal Scots during the Boer War records: ‘There was a splendid little fight at Balmoral, where Jack Hindon’s Commando, 200 to 300 in strength, endeavoured to capture some cattle; this attempt was frustrated primarily by the gallant and intelligent conduct of three men, No.8225, Dr. H. Robertson; 8255 Pte. J. Lockhart; and 8187 Pte. A. Blease; all of the Volunteer Service Company “Q”, and secondly, by the determined initiative of Nos. 7143 Pte. F. Colton; 6526 Pte. A. Hough; 7095 Pte. T. Williams. The first five were promoted corporals by Lord Kitchener for their gallantry. The G.O.C. Eastern Line telegraphed: “Very glad to hear you did so well, and that you beat the Boers off so successfully.” The Commander-in-Chief (Lord Kitchener) wired to General Featherstonhaugh: “I should like to promote the three men Volunteer Company Royal Scots, who appear to have acted so well at Balmoral; tell all concerned I consider their action reflects great credit; send me their names.”’

On a darker note, both he and his brother in the Royal Scots were reported to be ‘dead’, much to the distress of their parents. After service in South Africa Colton was based at the Depot and Shorncliffe, leaving the regiment after seven years to get married.

With the start of the Great War Colton rejoined the regiment. As a Serjeant in the 2nd Battalion he entered France on 7 September 1914 and saw service with his battalion throughout the war. It is recorded that during this time ‘he commanded a platoon in the Ypres Salient, had his box respirator shot to bits, his revolver hit in his jacket pocket and suffered many other adventures. He was, also, told by the General that he was too old for a commission, and by another, that he was too young.’

For his great bravery and leadership in action, Company Sergeant-Major Colton was awarded the Military Cross. Later in the war, his further bravery in action earned him the Military Medal.

MC LG 26 July 1918. ‘Company Sergeant Major Frederick Joseph Colton, Royal Scots.’ ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. After two of the Platoon Commanders were killed, this Warrant Officer, on his own initiative, went up to the front line and took command, repelling a determined attack by the enemy. He then crawled forward to a shell hole, and remained there for three hours sniping the enemy, who were trying to regain their own lines from adjacent shell holes.’

MM LG 11 February 1919: ‘7143 Coy. S.M. Colton, M.C., F. J., 2nd Bn. (Finsbury, N.)’.

Surviving the rigours of the war, Acting Regimental Sergeant-Major (A.W.O. Class 1) Colton was discharged to the Reserve on 14 February 1919. In the years following he was an active member of the Royal Scots Regimental Association and it was his proud claim that he was the only soldier of the 2nd Battalion Royal Scots to serve continuously for over four years in the Great War. In an echo from the Boer War, he was again erroneously declared dead when in hospital in 1942. In later years, as elder statesman of the Royal Scots Regimental Association, family members recall him being sent a staff car to take him to and from the reunions.

Warrant Officer Colton died in 1975.

A wonderful group awarded to Deputy Assistant Director-General Sir E S Worthington, RAMC, consisting of:

KCVO (340), Knight Batchelor's Badge, 1st type, CB (m), CMG, CIE, QSA (4) CC Rhod OFS Tr (Lieut.E.S.Worthington. Med. Staff. R.F.F.), KSA (2) (Capt:E.S.Worthington. R.A.M.C.), 1914 Star (Major Sir E.S.Worthington. M.V.O. R.A.M.C.), BWM & VM & MID (Lt.Col.Sir E.S.Worthington.), Union of South Africa Commemoration Medal 1910, unnamed, Thailand, Order of the White Elephant, Second class, Belgium, Order of Leopold, Officer's badge, Belgium, Croix de Guerre with palme, U.S.A., Distinguished Service Medal, Army issue.

Sir Edward Scott Worthington was born on the 24th October 1876 and was educated privately and at Trinity University, Toronto. Soon after qualifying M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. in 1899 he volunteered for service as a Civil Surgeon in the War in South Africa In November 1900, he joined the R.A.M.C. as a Lieutenant, having been recommended for a commission by the commander-in-chief.

For this services in South Africa he was awarded the Queen's medal, with four clasps, and the King's medal, with two clasps. After a brief period in the United Kingdom in 1902-3 he served in India for five years before returning to England in 1908. Two years later he was present, as medical officer on the staff of the Duke of Connaught, at the opening of the first Parliament of the Union of South Africa, and he later went to Canada when the Duke was appointed Governor-General of the Dominion.

When war broke out in 1914 Worthington was recalled to England, and he was with the British Expeditionary Force in France until October, 1916, when he returned to England. Towards the end of the war he was Deputy Assistant Director-General of medical services at the War Office for a short time, and he also became an Honorary Physician to the King. He retired in 1926.

Worthington was the recipient of many Crown honours. He was appointed M.V.O. in 1911 and created a Knight in 1913. For his war services he was awarded the C.M.G. in 1915 and the C.B. in 1918, in which year he was also promoted K.C.V.O. His appointment as C.I.E. was the reward for his services as medical officer on the staff of the Duke of Connaught in India when the Princes' Council was opened in 1920. Other awards he received were the Belgian Croix de Guerre and the American Distinguished Service Medal, and he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Leopold of Belgium and of the Sacred Elephant of Siam.

He was also appointed a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem in 1913. Worthington married Miss Winifred J. Wallace in 1914 and they had one son and one daughter.

He died on the 5th April 1953, aged 76.



Picture courtesy of Bonhams