Orders, Decorations and Medals

Nine: Squadron Leader E. H. D. Spence, Royal Air Force, late Royal Navy, a Jutland veteran who went on to pilot bombers in the Waziristan operations of 1925

1914-15 Star (Mid., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut., R.N.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1925 (F./O. (Hon. F./L.), R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf, these five privately inscribed, ‘Sqn. Ldr. E. H. D. Spence, R.A.F.’, generally very fine or better and the fourth rare (9) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to the R.F.C. and R.A.F. formed by Wing Commander Bill Traynor.

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Approximately 280 “Waziristan 1925” clasps were issued to Royal Air Force personnel, the published roll stating another possible 61 unconfirmed entitlements.

Edgar Henry Douglas Spence was appointed a Midshipman in April 1915, in which month he joined H.M.S. Indomitable, and he remained similarly employed until coming ashore in March 1917, via much fighting at Jutland - as part of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron, the Indomitable was heavily engaged, often at around 8000 yards range, and was credited with sharing in the the destruction of at least one enemy cruiser and a brace of destroyers. An entertaining account of her part in the battle appears in The Fighting at Jutland by Fawcett and Hooper, including evidence of her being straddled by heavy calibre enemy shells on numerous occasions. Advanced to Sub. Lieutenant in March 1917, Spence next joined the torpedo boat destroyer Minstrel, but on advancement to the temporary rank of Lieutenant that November, he removed to the sloop Auricula. His final wartime appointment was in another torpedo boat destroyer, the Lookout, and, having been confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant, he resigned his commission in February 1923.

The reasons behind his resignation were shortly apparent, for by early 1924 he was under pilot instruction at Abu Sueir, from whence he joined No. 27 (Bombing) Squadron as a Flying Officer in time to participate in the Waziristan operations of 1925 - his observer was apparently Sergeant A. E. Cowton, the author of First in the Field. Spence was advanced to Honorary Flight Lieutenant in the same year, returned to the U.K. to attend a course at R.A.F. Leuchars, and was appointed to the command of No. 441 (Fleet Spotter Reconnaissance) Flight, H.M.S. Argus, in November 1928. Subsequently placed on the Reserve of Air Force Officers, he served as a Technical Assistant in the Department of the Director-General of Civil Aviation at the Air Ministry in the mid-1930s and was recalled to the Administrative and Special Duties Branch in the rank of Squadron Leader in August 1939. Little is known of his wartime employment, other than the fact he was mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette of 1 January 1941, and served as a Liaison Officer for Royal Australian Air Force personnel based in the U.K. 1941-42. But his Atlantic Star would suggest a subsequent appointment in Coastal Command, or indeed, on the back of his earlier Fleet Spotter Reconnaissance work, a period of attachment to the Fleet Air Arm.