Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry 128
A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.S.O. group of five awarded to Colonel G. M. Oldham, Royal Engineers, who was awarded the D.S.O. and French Order of Agricultural Merit whilst serving as Deputy Director of Forestry in France, and was later Secretary of the Church Missionary Society in India
Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top riband bar; 1914 Star (Capt. G. M. Oldham R.E.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Col. G. M. Oldham); France, Third Republic, Order of Agricultural Merit, Officer’s breast badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with rosette on riband, minor enamel damage to first and last, otherwise very fine and better (5)
£1,200-£1,600
D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1916. French Order of Agricultural Merit, Officer, London Gazette 7 October 1919.
George Muir Oldham was born at Largs, Ayrshire, on 5 September 1876, and was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, to be Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 22 February 1897. Promoted Lieutenant on 3 February 1900, he served in Jamaica with the West Indian Fortress Company, R.E., before proceeding to India, and was promoted Captain on 3 February 1906. He continued to serve at various stations in India including Fort Sandeman, Quetta and was at Abbottabad in August 1914. Promoted Major on 30 October 1914 and Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel on 4 July 1916, he served with No. 371 Forestry Company, Royal Engineers during the Great War on the Western Front until he was appointed to be Deputy Director of Forestry on 14 April 1917. For his services during the Great War he was awarded the D.S.O. and the French Order of Agricultural Merit, and was twice Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazettes 15 June 1916 and 11 December 1917). He was promoted Brevet Lieutenant Colonel 1 January 1918 and retired on 8 August 1919, being granted the rank of Colonel. He remained a Substantive Colonel on the Royal Engineers Reserve of Officers until 1931.
Oldham’s obituary appeared in The Times on 7 June 1955: ‘Colonel George Muir Oldham, D.S.O, formerly general secretary of the Church Missionary Society in India, died in Calcutta on Saturday 4 June at the age of 78. The son of Lieutenant Colonel G. W. Oldham, he was born at Largs, Ayrshire on September 5, 1876, and was educated at Edinburgh Academy, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. In 1897 he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and after serving at Chatham was sent out to Jamaica in 1899. In 1902 he returned to England and three years later he went out to India. He served throughout the 1914-18 War, chiefly in France, being mentioned in despatches and awarded the D.S.O. in 1918 [sic]. After his retirement from the Army he farmed for five years in Kent and in 1930 he returned to India to advise the Church Missionary Society on building and engineering matters. In this he was largely influenced by his brother, Dr. J. H. Oldham, C.B.E., D. D., who was at the time secretary of the International Missionary Council. He became an honorary missionary in 1935 and after serving as secretary of the Bengal mission was appointed General Secretary of the C.M.S. in India in 1940. After his retirement in in 1950 he continued to live in Calcutta and his advice on all manner of questions continued to be sought by missionaries all over India.’
Sold with copied research and several copied photographs of the recipient, including a copy portrait photograph taken in 1897.
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