A Great War C.B.E. group of three awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel W. E. S. Burch, Royal Irish Regiment, Royal Flying Corps, and Royal Air Force, late Middlesex Regiment

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with section of neck riband for display purposes; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902, unofficial rivets between state and date clasps (Capt. W. E. S. Burch. R. Irish. Rgt:) engraved naming; British War Medal 1914-20 (Major W. E. S. Burch. R.F.C.) with flattened named card box of issue, mounted for wear together with the recipient’s daughter’s Victory Medal 1914-19 (D. M. Burch. V.A.D.) nearly extremely fine (4) £800-£1,000

C.B.E. London Gazette 10 October 1919:
‘In recognition of distinguished services rendered in connection with the War.’

William Edwards Scarth Burch was born in Sheffield in 1863 and was commissioned Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own Middlesex Regiment on 7 July 1886. Proceeding to India to join the 2nd Battalion on 8 September 1886, he transferred as Captain to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment on 31 July 1895, and was appointed Adjutant, 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifle Corps. He served in South Africa during the Boer War from June 1901 to May 1902. Promoted Major on 19 February 1905, he served as a Recruiting Staff Officer from August 1906 to August 1910, and retired on 13 August 1910.

Burch was appointed Assistant to the Officer in Charge of Records, Royal Flying Corps, on 24 June 1912, making him an original officer of the R.F.C., albeit a retired on at the time. He served with the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War on the Western Front from 22 to 28 September 1916 (also entitled to a Victory Medal), and was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 January 1917. He was appointed Officer in Charge of Records on 2 August 1917, with the rank of temporary Colonel, before being appointed a Staff Officer at the Air Ministry on 25 February 1918. Confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, Administrative Branch, Royal Air Force, on 7 November 1918, for his services during the Great War he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Post-War, Burch served as Secretary of the Royal Air Force Memorial Fund (later renamed the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund), and was present at the unveiling of the Royal Air Force Memorial by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on 16 July 1923. He died at Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1940.

Dorothy M. Burch, daughter of the above, served with the Voluntary Aid Detachment.

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