Three: Brevet Colonel H. Mercer, 3rd Dragoon Guards

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Major H. Mercer, 3/Drgn: Gds.); British War Medal 1914-20 (Bt. Col. H. Mercer.); Jubilee 1897, silver, unnamed, mounted as worn, the first with edge bruising and contact marks, nearly very fine, otherwise good very fine or better (3) £300-£400

Herbert Mercer was born at Sandling Place, Maidstone, Kent, and was educated at Harrow and Cambridge. He was commissioned into the 3rd Dragoon Guards in 1884; served in the South African War in 1901 and 1902, taking part in operations in the Transvaal in May and July 1901; in Orange River Colony February 1901 to 31 May 1902; on the Zululand Frontier of Natal in September and October 1901; and in Cape Colony in February 1901. He was Mentioned in Despatches, and awarded the Queen’s medal with 5 clasps. He completed to command regiment in 1908, retiring that same year. Mercer served in (Northern) Ireland during the Great War as a Security Officer (entitled to B.W.M. only); he was also a Unionist Member of Parliament for the Sudbury Division of West Suffolk 1922-23. He died on 8 February 1944.