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Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 1191

An interesting inter-war O.B.E. group of

Schätzpreis
1.200 £ - 1.500 £
ca. 1.809 $ - 2.261 $
Zuschlagspreis:
1.600 £
ca. 2.412 $
Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 1191

An interesting inter-war O.B.E. group of

Schätzpreis
1.200 £ - 1.500 £
ca. 1.809 $ - 2.261 $
Zuschlagspreis:
1.600 £
ca. 2.412 $
Beschreibung:

An interesting inter-war O.B.E. group of four awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Smyth, late 1/9th Gurkhas and Acting Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police, who latterly served in M.I. 6: the brother of Brigadier Sir John Smyth V.C., M.C., and himself the winner of a “mention” on the North West Frontier, he faced more than his fair share of challenges on the occupation of Shanghai - once being asked to arrest some British nationals for anti-Japanese activities The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; British War Medal 1914-20 (Lieut. H. M. Smyth); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 19121-24 (Lieut. H. M. Smyth, 1/9/Gurkhas); Shanghai Municipal Council Emergency Medal 1937, the earlier awards with contact marks and polished, thus nearly very fine, the O.B.E. and Shanghai awards good very fine (4) £1200-1500 Footnote O.B.E. London Gazette 9 June 1938. Awarded to Smyth in his capacity as Assistant Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police. Henry Malcolm Smyth was born in Witney, Oxfordshire, in December 1898, the son of William John Smyth a member of the Indian Civil Service, and a younger brother of the future Brigadier Sir John Smyth V.C., M.C., whose autobiography Milestones offers a glimpse of early family life: ‘My father was tall and handsome, a fine cricketer and keen yachtsman, with a delightful sense of humour. My mother had no intellectual attainments at all. She was small, sturdy and good-looking, with an immense capacity for making friends. Quite early in their married life, having produced three sons, they had to face the critical decision which confronted so many families tied to a job in the East. Should the wife remain with her husband and let other people look after her children in England, or should she go home and let other people look after her husband? As soon as I was of prep school age she chose the former and was thereafter nearly always with me at home during this period of our lives. The three sons were myself, John George named after my grandfather's distinguished brother; Herbert Edward Fitzroy, my next brother, named after the Fitzroy side of the family and commonly called “Billy”, and the youngest, Henry Malcolm (known to us always as “Lit”, the little one, though he grew to be almost twice my size). He was called Malcolm after my godfather, Malcolm Jardine, who was the father of Douglas Jardine, England's famous cricket captain. Malcolm Jardine and my father were great friends at Oxford and played a lot of cricket together.’ For his own part, young “Lit” was also educated back home at boarding school, attending St. Bees School before going up to Pembroke College, Oxford. Active service - North West Frontier Having then attended the Royal Military College at Quetta, he was commissioned in the 1/9th Gurkha Rifles in October 1917, in which capacity he witnessed active service in the Third Afghan War in 1919, when his men were among the first troops to be deployed and carried out a successful counter-attack at Dakka on 17 May 1919 - by the declaration of peace in August, the regiment has lost 16 men in action, two of them British officers. Described in a confidential report about this time as being of the ‘right stuff’, Smyth was back in action in the Waziristan operations, gained advancement to Captain in October 1922 and won a “mention” for his command of the Vickers section during the fighting in the region of Makin in February 1923, when the 1/9th Gurkhas sustained casualties of 11 killed and 26 wounded (see London Gazette 18 November 19240. He later became Adjutant, a role in which he ‘had to know everything, forget nothing and forgive nothing’, according to a fellow Gurkha Adjutant, John Masters - see his Bugles and a Tiger. In December 1929, Smyth left India on leave, afterwards studying Russian at Riga, Latvia, in which he qualified at interpreter lev

Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 1191
Auktion:
Datum:
25.03.2013 - 26.03.2013
Auktionshaus:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
Großbritannien und Nordirland
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
Beschreibung:

An interesting inter-war O.B.E. group of four awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Smyth, late 1/9th Gurkhas and Acting Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police, who latterly served in M.I. 6: the brother of Brigadier Sir John Smyth V.C., M.C., and himself the winner of a “mention” on the North West Frontier, he faced more than his fair share of challenges on the occupation of Shanghai - once being asked to arrest some British nationals for anti-Japanese activities The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; British War Medal 1914-20 (Lieut. H. M. Smyth); India General Service 1908-35, 3 clasps, Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919, Waziristan 1919-21, Waziristan 19121-24 (Lieut. H. M. Smyth, 1/9/Gurkhas); Shanghai Municipal Council Emergency Medal 1937, the earlier awards with contact marks and polished, thus nearly very fine, the O.B.E. and Shanghai awards good very fine (4) £1200-1500 Footnote O.B.E. London Gazette 9 June 1938. Awarded to Smyth in his capacity as Assistant Commissioner of the Shanghai Municipal Police. Henry Malcolm Smyth was born in Witney, Oxfordshire, in December 1898, the son of William John Smyth a member of the Indian Civil Service, and a younger brother of the future Brigadier Sir John Smyth V.C., M.C., whose autobiography Milestones offers a glimpse of early family life: ‘My father was tall and handsome, a fine cricketer and keen yachtsman, with a delightful sense of humour. My mother had no intellectual attainments at all. She was small, sturdy and good-looking, with an immense capacity for making friends. Quite early in their married life, having produced three sons, they had to face the critical decision which confronted so many families tied to a job in the East. Should the wife remain with her husband and let other people look after her children in England, or should she go home and let other people look after her husband? As soon as I was of prep school age she chose the former and was thereafter nearly always with me at home during this period of our lives. The three sons were myself, John George named after my grandfather's distinguished brother; Herbert Edward Fitzroy, my next brother, named after the Fitzroy side of the family and commonly called “Billy”, and the youngest, Henry Malcolm (known to us always as “Lit”, the little one, though he grew to be almost twice my size). He was called Malcolm after my godfather, Malcolm Jardine, who was the father of Douglas Jardine, England's famous cricket captain. Malcolm Jardine and my father were great friends at Oxford and played a lot of cricket together.’ For his own part, young “Lit” was also educated back home at boarding school, attending St. Bees School before going up to Pembroke College, Oxford. Active service - North West Frontier Having then attended the Royal Military College at Quetta, he was commissioned in the 1/9th Gurkha Rifles in October 1917, in which capacity he witnessed active service in the Third Afghan War in 1919, when his men were among the first troops to be deployed and carried out a successful counter-attack at Dakka on 17 May 1919 - by the declaration of peace in August, the regiment has lost 16 men in action, two of them British officers. Described in a confidential report about this time as being of the ‘right stuff’, Smyth was back in action in the Waziristan operations, gained advancement to Captain in October 1922 and won a “mention” for his command of the Vickers section during the fighting in the region of Makin in February 1923, when the 1/9th Gurkhas sustained casualties of 11 killed and 26 wounded (see London Gazette 18 November 19240. He later became Adjutant, a role in which he ‘had to know everything, forget nothing and forgive nothing’, according to a fellow Gurkha Adjutant, John Masters - see his Bugles and a Tiger. In December 1929, Smyth left India on leave, afterwards studying Russian at Riga, Latvia, in which he qualified at interpreter lev

Auktionsarchiv: Los-Nr. 1191
Auktion:
Datum:
25.03.2013 - 26.03.2013
Auktionshaus:
Dix Noonan Webb
16 Bolton St, Mayfair
London, W1J 8BQ
Großbritannien und Nordirland
auctions@dnw.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7016 1700
+44 (0)20 7016 1799
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