A Great War ‘Western Front’ D.S.O. group of seven awarded to Colonel Edward Charles Heath, commanding 8th (Irish) Battalion, Liverpool Regiment, late Sherwood Foresters, first General Secretary of the British Legion, 1921-40

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with copy top bar; British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf (Col.); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937, these unnamed; France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, mounted as worn; Defence Medal, slight enamel damage to first and sixth, very fine and better (lot) £3500-4000

C.V.O. London Gazette 3 June 1935.

D.S.O. London Gazette 26 November 1917; citation 6 April 1918. ‘Lieut-Col., Liverpool Regt.’

Recommendation states: ‘For gallantry, ability and devotion to duty when in command of a Battalion during the fighting from 20th to 23rd September 1917, S.E. of St. Julien. When his battalion was checked in front of its objective by heavy enfilade machine-gun fire, he pushed forward reinforcements and secured the position. He himself at once went forward, reorganised his Battalion and established a strong defensive line. He also initiated an action which later resulted in the capture of Schuler Arm. Throughout the fighting he showed great coolness and grasp of the situation, and was a fine example to his men’.

M.I.D. London Gazette 25 May 1917; 18 December 1917; 27 December 1918.

Edward Charles Heath was born in 1873, son of William Fitzhenry Heath, P.W.D., India. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion Sherwood Foresters in 1893. During 1899-1914 he was the Director of Army Classes, Folkestone. He was Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 3rd Battalion Sherwood Foresters, 1912-16, and 8th Battalion Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Irish), November 1916-19. He served in France/Flanders, 30 September 1916-11 November 1918. For his wartime services he was three times mentioned in despatches, awarded the D.S.O., and promoted to the rank of Colonel.

After the war he was Commandant of the Army General and Commercial College, Cologne, 1919-20; Officer in Charge of Education, Rhine Army, 1920-21; and First General Secretary of the British Legion, 1921-40. He organised and directed the British Legion Festival of Empire and Remembrance, 11 November 1929-38; the New Year Festival and Grand Pageant of the Empire and Her Allies, 1942 and 1943; and Festival of Empire, May 1945. For his services as General Secretary of the British Legion, he was awarded the C.V.O. in 1935 and the Legion of Honour in 1939.

During the Second World War he joined the Local Defence Forces (River Patrol) in 1940; organised and commanded “Heath’s Machine Gun Battalion” and the 34th County of London - London River (South) Battalion, Home Guard, 1940-43; was Supervising Military Liaison Officer ’R’ Sector, Home Guard, 1943-44. Latterly living at Hurlingham, London, S.W.6; Colonel Heath died on 7 September 1946.

Sold with a large number of military and related items: including a fine portrait miniature of the recipient within a gilt frame, 80 x 65mm., this fitted within a leather case; a silvered cigar case, inscribed, ‘General Head-Quarters, Technical College, Siegburg, Germany 1919’; a fine match case, 60 x 45mm., silver and gold, lid bearing the crest of the British Legion, inside inscribed, ‘With affectionate good wishes from his Staff to Col. E. C. Heath, C.V.O., D.S.O., 1921-1940’; metal and cloth uniform insignia; identity bracelet, ‘Lt. Col. E. C. Heath, 3rd Sherwood Foresters, Church of England’; identity disk, ‘Col. E. C. Heath, C.E., 3 N. Div.’; riband bars; commemorative medals (5); other medals, badges, stick-pins (24); British Red Cross Society Medal 1914-18 and British Legion (Womens Section) Badge - these latter two attributed to his wife - Mrs Mary Beatrice Heath.

Also with a large quantity of original and copied papers, documents and photographs, including: D.S.O. recommendation; D.S.O. Statutes booklet; Bestowal Document for the Legion of Honour, Chevalier, awarded to ‘M. le Colonel E. C. Heath de la British Legion’, dated 6 September 1939; Buckingham Palace document permitting Restricted Permission to Wear the Legion of Honour; C.V.O. Bestowal Document; Royal Victorian Order Statutes booklet; Jubilee 1935 award document; copied service papers; Buckingham Palace letters (2) concerning the recipient’s illness (dated 11 September 1939) and retirement as General secretary of the British Legion (dated 20 March 1940); Home Guard Service Certificate, 6 August 1940-31st December 1944; Death Certificate; Memorial Order of Service, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 4 October 1946; obituaries; sundry letters of condolence to his wife; letters and papers re. the death of Mrs Mary Beatrice Heath; sundry copied research.