Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore

A post-War O.B.E. group of four awarded to Private R. A. Colwill, 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, who was wounded by shrapnel during the Battalion’s epic rear-guard ‘Hold the line to the last’ action at Bois-des-Buttes on 27 May 1918, and was later Editor of the Torquay-based Herald Express as well as being the author of ‘Through Hell to Victory’, the History of the 2nd Devons in the Great War

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E., (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; British War and Victory Medals (21018 Pte. R. A. Colwill. Devon R.); Defence Medal, mounted for wear, good very fine (4) £240-£280

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Peter and Dee Helmore.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 31 May 1956:
‘For services to the Amateur Swimming Association.’

Reginald Arthur Colwill was born in Ilfracombe, North Devon in 1885 and was apprenticed to the Ilfracombe Gazette in 1899, being appointed as the paper’s Editor in 1905. In 1909 he moved to Exeter on joining the sub-editorial staff of the Express and Echo and the Western Times. Following the outbreak of the Great War he attested for the Devonshire Regiment and served as a Lance Corporal with the Signals Section, 2nd Battalion, on the Western Front.

In early May 1918 the 2nd Devons held 23rd Brigade’s front trenches near Juvincourt, and having been warned of an impending enemy attack they moved to underground shelters at the Bois des Buttes on 26 May 1918. The battalion emerged from the tunnels at 4:00 a.m. the next morning with orders to hold the line to the last. In the epic rear-guard action 23 officers and 528 men of the 2nd Battalion were reported as killed or missing; however, the battalion had successfully delayed the German advance as ordered. Colwill was one of fewer than 50 men, many wounded, who returned across the River Aisne. Following this action the 2nd Battalion was cited in the French Orders of the Day and awarded the Croix de Guerre, the first British unit to receive this honour.

Having received shrapnel wounds to his right leg in the retreat, Colwill was admitted to hospital in France, and following further hospitalisation at Exeter he was discharged to Class ‘Z’ Reserve on 28 January 1919. Returning to his journalistic career as the Chief sub-editor of the Western Times he was appointed Managing Editor of the Torquay-based Herald Express in 1921. In 1927 he privately published ‘Through Hell to Victory’, the history of the 2nd Devons during the Great War. During the Second World War he was the Emergency Information Officer for the Totnes Parliamentary Division.

A keen swimmer and administrator, Colwill accompanied the British Olympic Swimming Team to every Olympic Games from 1912 to 1948, and was elected President of the Amateur Swimming Association in 1929, as well as serving as Honorary Treasurer from 1937 to 1955. For his services to the Amateur Swimming Association he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 Birthday Honours’ List. He died at Torquay on 23 December 1958, aged 73.

Sold with copied research.