An Egyptian Order of the Nile group of six awarded to Colonel Commandant C. Prissick, Indian Army

Africa General Service 1902-56, 2 clasps, Somaliland 1902-04, Jidballi (Capt: C. Prissick. 52nd Sikhs); 1914-15 Star (Maj. C. Prissick, 52/Sikhs F.F.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lt. Col. C. Prissick.); Egypt, Kingdom, Order of the Nile, Third Class neck badge, by Lattes, Cairo, silver, silver-gilt, and enamel, maker’s mark to reverse, with neck riband; Royal Humane Society, small bronze medal (unsuccessful) (Capt: C. Prissick April. 20. 1903), with integral top riband buckle, together with mounted miniature group and riband bars, all housed in a glazed and fitted bronze frame with badges of the 52nd Sikhs and 56th Punjabis, fitted centrally to frame top and bottom, enamel damage to one ray of Egyptian order, otherwise good very fine (12) £1400-1800

M.I.D. London Gazettes 15 August 1917 and 27 August 1918.

Egyptian Order of the Nile London Gazette 16 January 1920.

Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal Case 32715 of 1903
‘On the 20th April 1903, two men of the 7th Bombay Pioneers fell into a well at Galadi, Somaliland. At great risk, Prissick went down, but was unable to find the men, he himself being got out in an unconscious state.’

Cuthbert (Bertie) Prissick was born at Athlone Barracks, Roscommon, Ireland, in 1871, the third son of Thomas Butterworth Prissick, Commissary Control Dept., Ireland, and married Ella Armstrong in 1897, the second daughter of the late Rev, Charles Armstrong of Stonton Wyville, Leicestershire, and Emma Conquest, of ‘The Cedars’, Tonbridge. He was educated at Tonbridge and Andrew Judd Schools, Tonbridge, Selwyn College, Cambridge (awarded the Judd Exhibition in June 1890) and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a University candidate. He was commissioned in 1893 in the Volunteer Force, promoted Lieutenant in the 1st Volunteer Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment. He was seconded to 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment and transferred to the Indian Staff Corps and served on the Andaman Islands, before being posted to the 52nd Sikhs. In 1902, he was posted to 2nd Sikhs as Captain. He served in East Africa through the Somaliland operations against the ‘Mad Mullah’, including the action at Jidballi, as Adjutant, 52nd Sikhs.

In 1903, he was awarded the Royal Humane Society Bronze Medal, “for a gallant attempt to save the lives of two men of the Bombay Pioneers who had gone down to clean out a polluted well at Galadi (Somaliland) and were overcome by noxious gases. Captain Prissick gallantly brought both men to the surface but himself nearly lost his life. Unfortunately, both men he rescued died.”. Tonbridge School and the Great War refers.

He was promoted Major in 1911 and continued to serve with 52nd Sikhs until 1916. From December 26 1914 to February 28 1915, he took part in the operations in the Tochi Valley and Derajat on the North West Frontier. In April 1916, he was promoted out to Second-in-Command of the 1st/56th Punjabi Rifles and served with them in the 7th Division in Mesopotamia from May 1916 to January 1918. In April 1916, he took command with the rank of Acting Lieutenant Colonel, received the Brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1917 and was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in 1918. He commanded the regiment throughout the operations to capture Kut, taking part in the capture of Sanna-i-yat on 22 January 1917, the advance to Samarra, the actions near Baghdad in March 1917 and at Istabular, 21-22 April 1917, and the Tigris operations, October to December 1917. He was Mentioned in Despatches for services in Mesopotamia in Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Mande’s Despatch of 10 April 1917 and again in Lieutenant-General W.R. Marshall’s Despatch of 15 April 1918.

On 18 January 1918, his Division was transferred to Palestine, where he served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force until January 1920, having been commissioned Commandant on 22 September 1918, taking part in General Allenby’s great final offensive and actions near Jaffa, 19-20 September 1918.

Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Prissick suffered severely from heat-stroke in Mesopotamia in 1917 but had refused at the time to leave his regiment and go on sick leave. Later, whilst in England on leave in 1920 when residing in Tonbridge, he was advised in consequence of the effects of the heat-stroke, his heart was affected and he was not fit for service in the East. However, he kept this warning to himself and insisted on returning to India. He was promoted Colonel in August 1920 and returned to the 56th Rifles at Kohat until April 1921, when he was appointed to the Brigade at Bannu. He was G.O.C., 8th Indian Infantry Brigade, as Colonel Commandant when he died suddenly of heat-stroke on 14 July 1922.

A commemorative plaque was erected by the Officers of the 8th Brigade at Bannu and later removed to St. Luke’s Chapel, London, after Partition in 1947. Colonel Commandant Prissick was Founder Member of the Andrew Judd Masonic Lodge, 1920.

Sold together with a portrait photograph of the recipient, and various other photographic images.