Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: General Sir Walter M. St.G. Kirke, Royal Artillery

India General Service 1895-1902, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1901-2 (Capt., Royal Artillery); 1914 Star, with clasp (Major, R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Col.); War Medal 1939-45 (General Sir W. M. St.G. Kirke), impressed naming, good very fine (5) £650-750

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Brigadier Brian Parritt, C.B.E..

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Walter Mervyn St. George Kirke was born on 16 January 1877, the son of Colonel St. George Mervyn Kirke, R.E. Educated at Haileybury and the Royal Military Academy Woolwich, he entered the Royal Artillery in January 1896. Promoted Lieutenant in September 1899 and Captain in December 1901, he served in Waziristan 1901-02, serving with the Native Infantry Artillery. He was then Commandant of the Bhamo Battalion Burma Military Police and commanded the Wellaung Punitive Expedition in the S. Chin Hills, 1905-06. Appointed a General Staff Officer 3rd Grade at the War Office in 1912, he was advanced to 2nd Grade at the time of the mobilization. Granted the Brevet ranks of Major in February 1914, Lieutenant-Colonel in February 1915 and Colonel in January 1917, he served in France and Belgium from 4 December 1914 to 30 July 1917. For his services he was six times mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 4 December 1914, 17 February 1915, 1 January 1916, 15 June 1916, 4 January 1917, 11 December 1917) and awarded the C.B. (1919), C.M.G. (1918), D.S.O. (London Gazette 3 June 1916), Belgian Order of the Crown 4th Class, Belgian Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honour 4th Class, French Croix de Guerre, Greek Order of George I 3rd Class, Serbia Order of the White Eagle 3rd Class with swords. In August 1920 he was promoted to Colonel and advanced to Major-General in 1924, Lieutenant-General in 1931 and General in 1936. He was appointed Deputy Director of Military Operations, 1918-22; was a Colonel on the Staff, G.S. Aldershot, 1922-24; head of the Military Mission to Finland, 1924-25 for which he was awarded the Order of the White Rose 3rd Class; Deputy Chief of the General Staff in India, 1926-29; Commander of the 5th Division, Catterick. 1929-31; General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, 1933-36, during which time he was awarded the K.B.E. (1934); Director-General of the Territorial Army, 1936-39, for which he was awarded the G.B.E. (1939) and was then Inspector-General and then Commander-in-Chief of Home Forces, 1939-40. Appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery, 1934-46, he was an A.D.C. to the King, 1937-40; he was placed on Retired Pay in 1940. Living in Godalming, Surrey, he was both a D.L. and J.P. and active in the local British Legion and R.U.S.I. General Kirke died on 2 September 1949. Sold with some copied research.