An important C.B.E. group of three awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. A. Whitlock, Royal Engineers - who was in charge of operations in the Sonkwala District of West Africa , 11-31 December 1908 - one of the few occasions in which British and German soldiers have fought on the same side

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with neck cravat, in case of issue; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Brother’s) breast badge; silver and enamel, in case; Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, West Africa 1908 (Major G. F. A. Whitlock, R.E.) nearly extremely fine; rare A.G.S. clasp (3) £2000-2400

C.B.E. London Gazette 22 March 1919. ‘Lt-Col. George Frederic Ashford Whitlock, R.E.’

Order of St. John, Officer London Gazette 23 June 1933. ‘Colonel George Frederic Ashford Whitlock, C.B.E.’

George Frederic Ashford Whitlock was born in Barnstaple on 16 April 1868. He was educated at the Royal Naval School, New Cross and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1887. He served with the Ordnance Survey from 1887 to 1903. He was appointed Assistant Commisioner of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission (Yola Lake Chad), 1903-04 and British Commissioner of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission (Yola-Cross River, S. Nigeria), 1907-09.

As a Major (Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel) R.E., he was in charge of the operations in the Sonkwala District during December 1908, His forces consisted of 12 British officers and non-commissioned officers; 157 men from the Southern Nigeria Regiment; two political officers; one doctor and most notably, 43 German colonial troops from the Cameroons commanded by Oberleutnant von Stephani. After some fighting the operation was brought to a satisfactory conclusion; the German maxim gun playing a significant part. Reports of the expedition was given by Lieutenant-Colonel Whitlock, R.E., Captain C. E. Heathcote, Y.L.I. and Oberleutnant von Stephani in the London Gazette of 21 December 1909.

Whitlock was appointed Chief Instructor in Surveying at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham, 1909-13. Awarded the Murchison Award of the Royal Geographical Society in 1916. After the war he was appointed British Commissioner of the Inter-allied Boundary Commission (Germany-Belgium), 1919-22. Placed on Retired Pay from the Army in 1922, he served as Mayor of Barnstaple, 1928-29. Latterly living at Trafalgar Lawn, Barnstaple, Devon; Colonel Whitlock died on 1 September 1936.

With copied research including gazette extracts.