Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry


Maxwell Edward Dopping-Hepenstal was born on 7 March 1872, son of Colonel Ralph Anthony Dopping-Hepenstal, of Derrycassan, Ireland, J.P. and D.L., High Sheriff and Honourary Colonel of the Longford Rifles. He was educated at King William’s College, Isle of Man (with honours), and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst 1892.


He was commissioned into the 1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, as a Second Lieutenant on 18 June 1892, and promoted to Lieutenant on 9 October 1893. He was appointed to the Indian Army on 25 July 1896, joining the 1st Battalion, 3rd Gurkha Rifles (Queen Alexandra’s Own), and was later attached as a wing officer to the 5th Infantry Hyderabad Contingent for actions with Major General Elles’ Mohmand Field Force on the Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (Medal with Clasp).


He was promoted to Captain on 10 July 1901, and in December of that year proceeded with the 1st Battalion to Tank on the North- West Frontier (Kabul Khel country) to form part of a supporting brigade to the Waziristan Blockade Force to put down raids by the Mahsud Waziris. The 1/3 G.R. was in the second of three mobile columns working simultaneously in the territory. There was considerable hardship in this cold and inhospitable country but the regiment performed excellent work in scouting and piquet duty (Clasp to India medal).


In 1907 Dopping-Hepenstal travelled to Japan for a two-year program to study the Japanese language. After the decisive victories of the Japanese over the Russians in the 1904-05 War the armies and navies of Europe, as well as the United States, took a keener interest in Japan and the Far East. While studying in Japan Dopping-Hepenstal learned the martial art of Judo - rare, in the West at this time. Upon his return he was qualified as an interpreter 2nd Class in Japanese. He was already versed in the Indian native languages of Urdu and Gurkhali. In 1899, he and fellow Gurkha officer, Subadar Kusalasi Barathaki, had co-authored a small, useful phrase book, Khas Gurkhali Grammar and Vocabulary, used primarily by British officers.


On 18 February 1908, Captain Dopping-Hepenstal officially transferred to the 1st Battalion, 1st (King George V’s Own) Gurkha Rifles. He was promoted to Major on 18 June 1910, and in 1911 he attended the Delhi Durbar, when his own regiment and the 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers served as Guards of Honour, positioned in front of the Emperor’s reception tent. Major Dopping-Hepenstal, however, was awarded 1911 Durbar Medal at the request of H.M. George V for his participation in planning and organisation with the various shooting camps in Nepal for the King-Emperor and Maharaja of Nepal. The total bag according to the Historical Records of the Imperial Visit was thirty-nine tigers, eighteen rhinoceroses and four bears.


When The Great War broke out in August 1914 Dopping-Hepenstal, like many in the summer season, was on furlough. He rejoined his regiment (part of the Sirhind Infantry Brigade) in Egypt on 7 November 1914, which was then posted to the defence of the Suez Canal. The Sirhind Brigade (Lahore Division) was the first to reach Egypt to guard the Canal and was relieved mid-November by a Lancashire


Territorial Division. The 1st K.G.V.O. Gurkhas, with 1st/4th Gurkha Rifles, sailed to France on the S.S. Mounteagle on 22 November. Their first action in France was the battle of Givenchy which, by this time had turned into a primitive defensive trench network, but Major Dopping-Hepenstal was not involved in these actions.


On 11 February 1915, the Sirhind Brigade (1st H.L.I., 4th Seaforths, 1/1st Gurkhas and 1/4th Gurkhas) replaced the Dehra Dun Brigade in the trenches outside Neuve Chapelle. Trench duty of building, repairing earthworks, communication links and raiding parties set in. Constant shelling persisted and, on 18 March 1915, Major Dopping-Hepenstal was slightly wounded in the back of the neck by a burst shrapnel shell. He spent three weeks out of the front line recovering from his wound.


On 19 April 1915, back in the Neuve Chapelle vicinity, Major Dopping-Hepenstal was severely burned on the face and hands while rescuing French civilians and troops from a burning farmhouse. His injuries were serious enough to evacuate him back to England to convalesce for five months. For his heroic deed Major Dopping-Hepenstal was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government. He returned to his Regiment in the Givenchy area on 27 September 1915 - permanently scarred to face and hands.


Monotonous trench warfare was the order of the day for the remainder of 1915. A warmer climate awaited the 1st Battalion when, on 15 December 1915, they sailed with the 57th Punjabis, 47th Sikhs, and Headquarters Staff from Marseilles on the transport Franconia to Egypt, Port Said and finally on to Basra in Mesopotamia. The Sirhind Brigade was to take part in the relief of the besieged forces of Major-General Townshend at Kut-al-Amara, beginning in January 1916.


The Sirhind Brigade, now reorganised, was henceforth known as the 9th (Sirhind) Brigade or simply the 9th Infantry Brigade. It consisted of 1st H.L.I., 1/1st Gurkhas, 1/9th Gurkhas ,and the 93rd Burma Infantry. The Brigade saw action against the Turk defences at Hanna in January and February, and the Dujaila Redoubt in February and March). Major Dopping-Hepenstal, himself, saw considerable action in the severe fighting of the Dujaila offensive [known as the Battle at Dujaila Redoubt during the second relief effort]. He was slightly wounded on the first day’s engagement, 8 March 1916, and spent one month behind the front lines recuperating from his wounds.


The next action the 9th Brigade was against the Turkish defences of Beit Aiessa (Bait Isa) on the Tigris River. This was the third and final attempt at a relief breakthrough. The offensive began on 17 April 1916, at which time Major Dopping-Hepenstal was temporarily in command of the 1st Gurkhas owning to the illness of Lieutenant-Colonel W. C. Anderson. The fighting against the Turks at Beit Aiessa was extremely severe, resulting in heavy Gurkha losses. According to the 1st K.G.O. Gurkha regimental history and war diary, the early morning attack came at 6:54 a.m., with Dopping-Hepenstal giving the order to advance. It came under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire. The charge against ‘Johnny Turk’ by the 9th Brigade’s Gurkha Rifles that rainy morning ‘with bomb, bayonet and kukri’ was a brilliant action resulting in the capture of the day of 400 Turkish and German prisoners, six machine-guns and two field guns.


In Edmund Candler’s The Long Road to Baghdad (1919) he speaks of the initial charge of the 1/1st and 1/9th Gurkhas against the heavily entrenched Turks:


‘With true psychological instinct they went in and killed nearly every man in the trench, cutting and slashing with their kukris, jabbing with their bayonets, or firing a charge point blank to finish the work of steel. They took three machine-guns and cleared the second line with similar carnage. The Turkish third line rose in a cloud and bolted’.


However, that afternoon the Turks launched a major counter-attack, estimated to be around ten thousand bayonets, led by the elite Second Constantinople Division. The sheer numbers overwhelmed the advance and successes of the day and a retreat across the Beit Aieesa front was ordered. Thus the third relief effort for Kut had failed. Twelve days later, on 29 April 1916, General Townshend would surrender his forces after a five-month siege with a toll of 23,000 British casualties racked-up over the three attempts to relieve the garrison.


For his leadership and gallant display in the attack on the Beit Aiessa trenches Major Dopping-Hepenstal was awarded the D.S.O., an immediate award for his conspicuous gallantry when leading his battalion in the attack under heavy rifle and machine-gun fire.


On 8 August 1916, Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson rejoined the battalion and took over command from Major Dopping-Hepenstal. On 9 December 1916, on the promotion to Brevet Colonel, Colonel Anderson took command of the 9th Brigade, and Major Dopping- Hepenstal assumed command of the 1/1st Gurkhas. This proved to be short lived as Colonel Anderson was relieved from the Brigade Command on 22 January 1917, by Brigadier-General Campbell, and Anderson returned as battalion commander. During this time the battalion was in a position known as the Kut East Mounds, in preparation for the final assault and capture of Kut-al-Amara, now held by the Turks. The 9th Brigade, however, was pulled back and ordered to positions before Baghdad.


The hundred plus mile advance on Baghdad resulted in a major action amongst the foothills of Jebel Hamrin range, an arduous terrain of unfordable nullas, the ground being described as ‘entirely unknown’. The position before Jebel Hamrin was, as the war diary states ‘strongly held by some of the finest troops in the Turkish Army, with an honourable record behind them and no hint of that weak morale which had naturally affected the troops’.


all lots are illustrated on our website www.dnw.co.uk and are subject to buyers’ premium at 20% (+VAT where applicable)


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256  |  Page 257  |  Page 258  |  Page 259  |  Page 260  |  Page 261  |  Page 262  |  Page 263  |  Page 264  |  Page 265  |  Page 266  |  Page 267  |  Page 268  |  Page 269  |  Page 270  |  Page 271  |  Page 272  |  Page 273  |  Page 274  |  Page 275  |  Page 276  |  Page 277  |  Page 278  |  Page 279  |  Page 280  |  Page 281  |  Page 282  |  Page 283  |  Page 284  |  Page 285  |  Page 286  |  Page 287  |  Page 288  |  Page 289  |  Page 290  |  Page 291  |  Page 292  |  Page 293  |  Page 294  |  Page 295  |  Page 296  |  Page 297  |  Page 298  |  Page 299  |  Page 300  |  Page 301  |  Page 302  |  Page 303  |  Page 304  |  Page 305  |  Page 306  |  Page 307  |  Page 308  |  Page 309  |  Page 310  |  Page 311  |  Page 312  |  Page 313  |  Page 314  |  Page 315  |  Page 316  |  Page 317  |  Page 318  |  Page 319  |  Page 320  |  Page 321  |  Page 322  |  Page 323  |  Page 324  |  Page 325  |  Page 326  |  Page 327  |  Page 328  |  Page 329  |  Page 330  |  Page 331  |  Page 332  |  Page 333  |  Page 334  |  Page 335  |  Page 336  |  Page 337  |  Page 338  |  Page 339  |  Page 340  |  Page 341  |  Page 342  |  Page 343