Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Vivian Dunn, Principal Director of Music, Royal Marines

Worshipful Company of Musicians of London Medal (Sir Vivian Dunn, K.C.V.O., O.B.E., F.R.A.M., R.M. Master 1988-89), 24mm., silver, Medal, obv. Swan with raised wings, dated ‘1500, 1604, 1950’, rev. inscribed, ‘Lt. Col. Sir Fancis (sic) Vivian Dunn, 15 July 1981’, 39mm., silver-gilt, hallmarks for Birmingham 1981, with suspension and ribbon for neck wear, in case, extremely fine (2) £80-120

Francis Vivian Dunn was born in Jubbulpore on 24 December 1908, the son of Captain William James Dunn, M.V.O., M.C., Dirctor of Music, Royal Horse Guards, and Beatrice Maud Dunn. He was educated at the Peter Symonds College; Winchester; Konservatorium der Musik, Cologne, and the Royal Academy of Music, becoming an Associate of the R.A.M. in 1932 and a Fellow in 1953. A founder member of the B.B.C. Symphonic Orchestra, 1930. He entered the Royal Marines as a Lieutenant and Director of Music in 1931 and during the war had additional duties with cypher work. With H.M.S. Vanguard and the Royal Tour of South Africa 1949. He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel and Principal Director of Music, R.M., in 1953 and retired in 1968. Awarded the M.V.O., 1939; C.V.O., 1954; O.B.E., 1960, and the K.C.V.O. in 1969. He was the Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, 1988-89, and received the E.M.I. Gold Disc Award 1969, and the J. P. Souza Foundation Award of Merit 1987. Sold with copies of the recipient’s birth and marriage certificates and other copied research.