Beschreibung:

'Charles Blackburne came into my life and went out of it in the short space of two years, but remained from first to last the same. Hand in hand with his beloved children, he held fast to the high and noble faith which assures them of his eternal watch over the beloved ones he leaves behind.' Field Marshal J. D. P. French, 1st Earl of Ypres, writing of the loss of his friend. An outstanding and deeply poignant Boer War D.S.O. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Blackburne, 5th Dragoon Guards, late West Kent Imperial Yeomanry, who served with distinction during the Boer War and witnessed the retreat from Mons, earning a brace of 'mentions' in the process Having been severely wounded and all but crippled in the left arm and shoulder at Ypres, he drowned attempting to save the lives of his children aboard the torpedoed R.M.S. Leinster in the closing weeks of the war Distinguished Service Order, V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Transvaal, Wittebergen (7447. Capt: C. H. Blackburn, 36th. Coy. 11th Imp: Yeo:); King's South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Capt: C. H. Blackburne, Imp: Yeo:); 1914 Star, copy clasp (Capt: C. H. Blackburne. D.S.O. 5/D. Gds.); British War and Victory Medals with M.I.D. oak leaves (Bt. Lt. Col. C. H. Blackburne), the rank to second privately altered, latter part of surname to Victory Medal officially re-impressed, otherwise good very fine, housed in an old fitted open-fronted glazed wooden case, together with silver cap Badges for the Queen's Own (West Kent) Yeomanry and the 5th Dragoon Guards (6) D.S.O. London Gazette 31 October 1902: 'In recognition of services during the operations in South Africa.' Charles Harold Blackburne was born on 20 May 1876, the third son of Charles Edward Blackburne, who died prematurely aged 32 at Hastings, with young Charles just 18 months old. His mother Mary, daughter of the late John Riley of Oldham - a well respected mill owner of that locality - decided to settle the family there. Mary and her new husband, William Shadforth Boger, welcomed a half-sister in 1885. Nurses and dentists on high alert From infancy, Charles was healthy, strong and big, but also restless and full of mischief as recalled in A Memoir by the Brother: 'His was always an inquiring mind, and he set about discovering things at an early age. For example, he wanted one day to discover if the key used to wind up a clockwork mouse was a good thing to eat, and so of course he swallowed it, much to the consternation of nurses. Then, when he possessed them, he was anxious to know all about his teeth, and so he proceeded to pull them out in order to look at them. His dental exploits continued for some years, for his first second tooth he uprooted one night with the aid of a button-hook and penholder, and he was considerably surprised and pained that the discovery of a tooth with a long root, a novel thing to him, proudly displayed at the breakfast table the following morning, did not meet with an enthusiastic reception.' Charles displayed little natural inclination for book-learning and the 'drudgery' of the Latin and Greek Grammar was 'well-nigh intolerable to him'. On the other hand, animals, in particular horses, were a great passion. His toys were almost all of an equine nature, and, once he had learnt to read, he read Swiss Family Robinson cover to cover, the well-thumbed contents appealing to his interest: 'How many times that precious volume was read through who can say? It used to be a family joke, for several years, that it was the only book he had read through.' Soon after the death of his father, financial losses made it necessary for his mother to put down her carriage and send away the much beloved pony. An annual visit to an uncle - who always had the best of hackneys in his stable - soothed the loss, and Charles soon learned to ride, facilitated by an elderly and much lov