Family Group:

British War Medal 1914-20 (176692 Pnr. H. Greaves. R.E.) good very fine

Five: Lieutenant-Colonel C. H. Greaves, Royal Army Dental Corps
1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 1st Army; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, mounted as worn; together with the related miniature awards, good very fine

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R., with M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. M. P. A. Revell. Q.A.R.A.N.C.) good very fine (lot) £300-£400

Cecil Howard Greaves was born in Leicester on 3 May 1912, the son of Pioneer Harold Greaves, Royal Engineers, and trained as a dental surgeon at Guys Hospital, London, graduating in 1936. Following the outbreak of the Second World War he was commissioned temporary Lieutenant in the Army Dental Corps, and served during the Second World War initially at hospitals in the U.K. and West Africa, being promoted Captain on 16 January 1941. He subsequently took part in the Italy campaign, and for his services in helping to blow up an enemy petrol dump he was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 23 May 1946).

Following the cessation of hostilities he remained in the Army, and was promoted Major on 16 January 1948. He met his future wife, Ann Revell, in Benghazi in 1957, and they married in St. John’s Wood, Middlesex, on 14 March 1959. After further postings to Germany and Malaya, they settled in Bray, near Windsor, where Greaves was stationed at Victoria Barracks. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 3 May 1972.

Sold with the recipient’s Mention in Despatches certificate, named to Major (actg.) C. H. Greaves, The Army Dental Corps, in O.H.M.S. envelope; the recipient’s Record of Service; the recipient’s Provincial Government of Cyrenaica Driving Licence; M.O.D. letter to the recipient on his retirement, dated 20 December 1971; and a photographic image of the recipient.


May Pauline Ann Greaves, née Revell, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 1925, the daughter of Rowan William Revell, Esq., and spent the latter part of her childhood growing up in Guernsey, where her father was for a while the Chief Medical Officer. Evacuated to England following the German invasion in 1940, she trained as a nurse at University College Hospital, London, where she worked 18 hour shifts in operating theatres during 1944 whilst the building shook from the impact of exploding doodle bugs. She qualified as a nurse in 1947, and joined Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps. After training at Aldershot she was posted to Malaya where she worked as a Senior Sister. For her services in Malaya she was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 19 October 1951). She retired on 14 March 1959, in advance of her forthcoming marriage, and was granted the honorary rank of Captain.

Sold with the recipient’s Confirmation Card; University College Hospital Training School for Nurses certificate, dated 3 January 1947; General Nursing Council Registered Nurse Certificate, dated 22 March 1946; letter of congratulations on her ‘Mention in Despatches’ from G. E. Morgan, D.D.A.N.S., Medical Directorate, General HQ, Far East Land Forces, dated 19 October 1951; War Office letter to the recipient on her retirement, dated 1 April 1959; and a photographic image of the recipient.