search.noResults

search.searching

saml.title
dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
Campaign Groups and Pairs 298 Three: Miss A. L. Merrylees, Scottish Women’s Hospital and French Red Cross


British War and Victory Medals (A. L. Merrylees); France, Third Republic, Medal of Honour, Ministère de la Guerre Bronze Medal for Devouement Epidemies, the reverse officially embossed ‘Miss A. Merrylees 1917’, in case of issue with gold blocked lettering to the lid (Ministère de la Guerre - Miss A. Merrylees 1917); together with the related miniature awards, generally very fine (3) (3)


£200-£300


Miss Anna Louisa Merrylees was born in Aberdeen in 1879. She first served in Salonika with the Scottish Women’s Hospital and subsequently as a Masseuse and Orderly, in France with the French Red Cross. The medal roll shows her as being a serving member of The Scottish Women’s Hospital, and she served in the Royaumont unit with Miss Ivens. She served from September 1915 until September 1917. She is quoted twice in Eileen Crofton’s book on the unit. In the 1920’s she worked in Kenya, until returning to London and living in Chelsea. She was subsequently employed as a masseuse at St. Bartholemew’s Hospital for 20 years, and died at Harborne Hall, Birmingham, in December 1965.


299


Pair: Nurse Agnes H. Keith-Murray, French Red Cross British War and Victory Medals (A. H. Keith Murray) good very fine (2)


£60-£80


300


Pair: Captain J. D. Demme, Slavo British Legion British War and Victory Medals (Capt. J. D. Demme.) good very fine, rare to unit The Slavo-British Legion


£200-£300


After the British invasion and occupation of Archangel in early August 1918 recruiting began locally for the formation of the ‘Slavo- British Legion’ raised from White Russian volunteers as a ‘British Foreign Legion’ to fight the Bolshevik Red Army. A sister unit, the ‘Slavo-British Aviation Corps’ was formed under the command of Imperial Russian ace Alexander Kazakov to fly British aircraft against the Reds. The Legion would be commanded by British officers with a sprinkling of volunteer White Russian officers recruited into the Legion and given British ranks. It was incorporated into the North Russia Expeditionary Force Order of Battle, wore British Army uniforms and observed British Army traditions.


On the night of 6–7 July 1919, the Slavo-British Legion were billeted behind the front line on the eastern bank of the Dvina River near the village of Topsa. At 0230 a party of eight mutineers led by Corporal Nuchev and Private Leuchenko crept towards the hut where the British and White Russian company and platoon officers were sleeping. Corporal Nuchev shot Captain Aubrey Finch (Seaforth Highlanders) through a window as he was sleeping, killing him outright, whilst the other mutineers stormed the hut shooting and killing four more British and four Russian officers and three batmen.


Captain David Barr (East Lancashire Regiment) was badly wounded with bullet and bayonet wounds but managed to evade his attackers and flee out of the hut into the twilight, swimming across the Dvina to one of monitor H.M.S. Humber’s picket boats. For his gallantry in fighting his way out of the billet under fire and courage and endurance despite his wounds, Barr was awarded the Military Cross but sadly succumbed to his wounds six days later and was buried in Archangel Allied Cemetery.


As the mutiny erupted and hundreds of Legionnaires fled into the forest to join the Red Army. Legion company officers Captain William Beavan, Welsh Regiment and Alfred Barrett, Royal Berkshire Regiment, formed their men on parade despite the mayhem and by their determination held the men steady with the assistance of 2nd Lieutenant Sydney Brooker, General List, who was commanding one of the platoons in Beavan’s company. All three men were awarded the Military Cross for their courage and devotion to duty. Also murdered during the mutiny were Lieutenants Gerald Gosling, M.C., Gloucestershire Regiment; Cecil Bland, M.C., Royal Berkshire Regiment; and Thomas Griffith, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.


Twenty six captured Legionnaires were charged with offences relating to the mutiny, their court-martial carried out in the field over two days, 12–13 July. Eight men were acquitted whilst the remaining 18 charged were sentenced to death, six of these having their capital sentences commuted to 10 years penal servitude leaving 12 mutineers sentenced to execution.


On the morning of 17 July 1919 the condemned men were brought out to meet their fate. Ironside ensured that 500 new White Russian recruits were present to witness the executions as a none too subtle warning.Of the mutiny one British officer wrote: ‘In their innermost hearts the loyal Russians were not sorry. They regretted the butchery of British officers, but the mutiny itself they regarded as the natural and inevitable outcome of the whole effort. They merely shrugged their shoulders as if to say, ‘We told you so.’


The British Army made a concerted attempted to track down the mutineers who escaped to defect to the Red Army. The names of a further eight mutineers were identified, an internal British military intelligence memo stated: ‘The names of these Russians should be carefully recorded and never lost sight of. They are guilty of the blackest treachery conceivable, and if our affairs with Russia should at any time in the next five or ten years reach a condition when it is possible for us to demand their exemplary punishment, we must not fail to do so’.


The escaped mutineers were never found, and only a handful of loyal Slavo-British Legionnaires who were evacuated to England after the British withdrawal from North Russia in October 1919 became eligible for awards of the British War and Victory Medals.


Note: The Slavo-British Legion Medal Roll contains 67 names, most of whom do not appear to have been issued any medals, with many others had their medals returned unclaimed. The medal roll confirms only 17 British War and Victory Medal pairs issued to the unit, five of them being to officers.


301


Pair: Lieutenant G. F. Lane, Royal Air Force, who was wounded in action on 5 October 1918


British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. G. F. Lane. R.A.F.); together with a Masonic Jewel, gilt and enamel, edge bruising to BWM, otherwise good very fine and better (3)


£70-£90


George Frederick Lane was commissioned temporary Second Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps on 21 October 1917, and served with 85 Squadron during the Great War over the Western Front. ‘On 5 October 1918 Captain MacGregor and Lieutenant Lane dropped 6 25lb bombs on Hautmont Station and in spite of very heavy machine gunfire from the ground continued to shoot at troops and transport around the sidings, causing many casualties, until Lieutenant Lane was badly wounded in the leg. However, he succeed in returning and landing his machine safely.’


www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+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