Four: Lieutenant-Commander E. H. Ward, Royal Navy, one of a handful of British servicemen to be awarded the Order of Al Nahda of the Kingdom of Hijaz

1914-15 Star (Lieut., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut., R.N.); Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (Lieut., H.M.S. Spinx), the third with officially re-impressed naming, good very fine or better (4) £300-350

Eric Harding Ward was born in July 1888 and entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet in January 1905. Having gained seagoing experience as a Midshipman - and completed his studies at assorted R.N. Colleges - he was advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in May 1908 and to Lieutenant in December 1910.

Between 1914-17 he witnessed extensive service in the Persian Gulf, initially aboard the Sphinx, but afterwards in the Hardinge and Dufferin, and, in the course of 1919, as a recently promoted Lieutenant-Commander and captain of the sloop Gardenia, completed useful work on behalf of the British High Commission in Constantinople, a Rear-Admiral reporting:

‘He has carried out three missions in the Gardenia in connection with the work of this High Commission. He has shown resource and fairness in situations which were entirely novel to him, and which, moreover, called for considerable strength of characater and rapidity of decision ...’

As is also clear from his service record, however, he managed to attract the displeasure of Their Lordships, his misdemeanours including some impressive Ward Room mess bills and an untidy ship. By mutual agreement, therefore, Ward was placed on the Retired List, and he made his way to South Africa to take up farming. He had, meanwhile, experienced some form of consolation in the news that he was to be created a 4th Class of the Order of Al Nahda of the Kingdom of Hijaz (London Gazette 27 December 1920).

Ward was briefly recalled as a Lieutenant-Commander (Retd.) on the renewal of hostilities, but would appear to have been discharged in March 1940.