Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers, Part II 841 Pair: Winifred, Lady Willcocks, the wife of General Sir James Willcocks, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., K.C.S.I., D.S.O.


British War Medal (Lady Willcocks.); Delhi Durbar 1911, silver, unnamed as issued, together with a lady’s bow riband from the Delhi Durbar Medal, extremely fine (2)


£300-£400


Winifred Willcocks was born in 1871 at Saugor, Bengal, India, the daughter of Colonel G. A. Way, C.B., Indian Army. In 1889, at Calcutta, she married Captain James Willcocks, Leinster Regiment, an officer who had seen extensive campaign service since 1878. He went on to achieve senior rank commanding, amongst others, the Ashanti War forces in 1900, the Mohmand Field Force on the North West Frontier in 1908 and the Indian Corps in France during the Great War. He died in 1926 having most recently served as Governor of Bermuda.


Lady Willcocks is confirmed on the roll for the 1911 Delhi Durbar medal where she is listed amongst ‘military ladies’. During the Great War she served in France in 1918 with the Church Army and is confirmed as receiving the British War Medal only. Her husband’s memoir, The Romance of Soldiering and Sport, makes reference to her medals:


‘... the Coronation Medal given for the Delhi Durbar was distributed broadcast to all kinds and conditions of people ... but I suppose the supply for the military had run out because my wife was never given one until a year later and only then because the late Lady Hardinge, wife of the Viceroy, found her at Viceregal Lodge without one on a ceremonial occasion and with that kindly courtesy which so distinguished her, immediately took off her own medal and pinned it on my wife's dress. She had taken her full share in the War, having served for a year with the Indian Soldiers' Fund, after which she worked all and every day for eighteen months at the Waterloo Canteen and finally went to France with the Church Army and served for six months at Calais, once having her dwelling badly bombed by aeroplanes. The War Medal she won is her recognition and she has reason to be proud of it.’


Lady Willcocks died in 1951 at Roseacre, Guildford, Surrey.


842


The Indian Volunteer Forces Officers’ Decoration awarded to Colonel Sir Vivian Gabriel, who had a long, distinguished, and varied career as an Indian Civil Servant, a Volunteer Officer, and finally a Courtier, during which period he amassed a remarkable total of at least 25 orders, decorations, and medals


Indian Volunteer Forces Officers’ Decoration, G.V.R., reverse engraved ‘Maj. E. V. Gabriel, 2/17th B.B. & C.I. Rly. Bn. I. D.F.’, good very fine


£200-£300


Sir Edmund Vivian Gabriel was born in 1875, descended from the ancient Gabrielli family of Gubbio in Italy, his father being accorded the title Count Gabrielli di Gubbio. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, entered the Indian Civil Service in 1897, and arrived in India in December 1898. He then served in Bengal, Rajputana and Central India as Assistant Magistrate and Collector 1898 -1902. He officiated as Assistant to the Agent to the Governor-General in Central India from November 1901 to February 1903. He was assistant to the Political A.D.C. to the Secretary of State, India Office, for H.M.’s Coronation June-July 1902.


Gabriel was an Attaché for the Coronation Durbar in 1903; then Assistant and Under-Secretary, Foreign Department 1903-1907. He officiated as Under-Secretary March 1905. He was on Special Service with the Prime Minister in 1908, then Resident of Western Rajputana States 1908, then Chief Secretary, N.W. Frontier Province Administration 1909.


Gabriel was a long serving member of the Volunteers in India. Commissioned into the Simla Volunteer Rifles in April 1906, he was appointed C.V.O. after the Prince of Wales’ visit and Captain, 2nd Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway Volunteer Rifles in 1910. He was transferred to the Supernumerary List on 1 March 1911 and a Major.


He was a Secretary of the Coronation Durbar in 1911 and in 1912 he served on a Special Mission to Tripoli in Libya, and was on Special Service, Political Department in 1913; and with the Bikaner State Service in 1914; and on Special Duty under the Agent to the Governor-General in Rajputana 1914.


During the Great War, Gabriel was appointed a Temporary-Major in the Army in March 1915 and later a Temporary Lieutenant- Colonel with the same seniority. He served with the British Military Mission to the Italian field armies, 1915-17, then on Staff work and with the Aegean Squadron and was appointed a G.S.O. 2 in September 1917. He was Assistant Administrator, Palestine, 1918-20, and for his services was repeatedly Mentioned in Despatches and appointed C.S.I., C.M.G., and C.B.E. (Military), as well as the Officer of the Order of the Crown, and Officer of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus of Italy.


After the War Gabriel was in the Baroda State Service in 1920. He retired from the Indian Civil Service in March 1920 and briefly lived in the family palazzi in Gubbio before returning to London. He was awarded the Indian Volunteer Decoration in 1923. Having served for many years as an officer in the Territorial Force, reaching the rank of Colonel in the Royal Engineers (T.F), he became Honorary Colonel, 26 A.A. Battalion in London (TD).


Appointed Knight of Justice of the Order of St. John, in 1929, Gabriel was appointed to the Royal Household as Gentleman Usher in 1925, and was Knighted in May 1937.


Having moved to the U.S.A., Gabriel served as Attaché, British Air Commission, Washington D.C., from 1940 – 46 and died at the Governor General’s residence in Antigua, in February 1950.


In addition to his British and Indian awards and others mentioned above, he also received the Grand Cordon of the Afghan Order of Astor, was Knight Commander of the Vatican Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Commander of Netherlands Order of Orange Nassau, Commander of the Equestrian Order of St. Agatha, San Marino, and held the Italian War Cross. He was a Doctor of Civil Letters from the University of Cambridge and a J.P. During the course of a highly distinguished and active career, Sir Vivian amassed the remarkable total of at least 25 Orders, Decorations and Medals, including foreign awards and those for the 1903 and 1911 Durbars, Jubilee 1935 and Coronation 1937.


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