The Second World War O.B.E. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel F. McKibbin, Royal Army Medical Corps; awarded the Hedjaz Order of Al Nahda in the Great War

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; 1914-15 Star (Lieut., R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); Defence and War Medals; Hedjaz, Order of Al Nahda, 4th Class, 62 x 53mm. (excl. susp.), silver and enamel, with plaited cord for neck wear, in original but damaged case of issue, minor enamel damage; together with Identity Disk, inscribed, ‘Capt. F. M. Kibbin, Pres., R.A.M.C.; also the Leishman Memorial Medal, rev. inscribed, ‘Major F. McKibbin, R.A.M.C., Awarded for Outstanding Work in Military Hygiene during 1933’, 51mm., silver, hallmarks for London 1934, in Goldsmiths & Silversmiths, London case of issue, very fine and better (9) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Medical Services formed by Colonel D.G.B. Riddick.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1943.

Order of Al Nahda, 4th Class London Gazette 30 September 1920.

Frederick McKibbin was born in Belfast on 20 January 1892. He gained the M.B. and B.Ch. at Belfast in 1915 to which he added the Diploma of Public Health, from Cambridge, in 1924. Appointed a Lieutenant in the Special Reserve in February 1914, he was mobilized on 25 March 1915 and promoted to Captain in September that year. He served in France, 1915-16 and Egypt, 1917-21. For his services in the Middle East, he was awarded the Hedjaz Order of El Nahda 4th Class. As a Captain he was appointed to a regular army commission in March 1921 and was promoted to Major in March 1927 and Lieutenant-Colonel in December 1940. McKibbin served in India, 1924-29 and Ceylon, 1932-36. He served as Assistant Director of Hygiene, H.Q. Aldershot/S.E. Commands, 1941 and Deputy Director of Hygiene H.Q. S.E. Command, 1941-44, ranked as an Acting Colonel in December 1941 and Temporary Colonel, June 1942. For his services during the war he was awarded the O.B.E. In India during 1945-47, he was Deputy Director of Hygiene, H.Q. N.W. Army, 1945-46 and Assistant Director of Medical Services, H.Q. Bombay Area, 1946-47, having been promoted to Colonel in October 1945. His final appointment was as Commandant of the Army School of Health, 1948-49. Placed on Retired Pay on 30 June 1949, he was re-employed at the rank of Major, July 1949-November 1951. Colonel McKibbin died on 12 September 1952.

Sold with the original bestowal document (and translation) for the Order of Al Nadha, 4th Class, together with a letter from the Arab Bureau, Cairo, dated 28 May 1920, which accompanied the order and document. Copied research details with the lot states that McKibbin was mentioned in the book, With Lawrence of Arabia, by Lowell Thomas.