Orders, Decorations and Medals

An impressive Great War battery commander’s D.S.O., M.C. group of nine awarded to Major W. M. Matheson, Royal Artillery, a veteran of the Sudan and South Africa campaigns

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel; Military Cross, G.V.R.; Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (82102 Corp., R.A.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (82102 Sgt., 37th Batt. R.F.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (82102 Serjt., R.F.A.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Major); Army L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (82102 B. S. Mjr., R.F.A.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum (82102 Corpl., 37th Fd. Bty. R.A.), surname spelt ‘Matherson’, together with a set of related miniature dress medals, including 1914-15 Star, and an R.A. badge, the sixth with officially re-impressed naming, very fine and better (20) £1800-2200

D.S.O. London Gazette 16 September 1918:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. This officer brought his battery into action in the open in front of a railway embankment during a sudden retirement, and remained until the infantry formed up behind him. His timely assistance was of great value to the infantry, who were exhausted and short of officers. A fortnight later, while his battery was firing a protective barrage, it suddenly came under very heavy and accurate fire, so he cleared the detachments to a flank, and, with 30 volunteers, two of whom have since died of wounds, kept two guns in action to maintain the barrage.’

M.C. London Gazette 18 October 1917:

‘On 2 September 1917, near Pilckem, the battery position was being heavily shelled, two gun pits and an ammunition dump being set on fire. Major Matheson at once organised a party and after considerable time succeeded in putting out the fire. During all this time the bombardment continued and two rounds of 5.9-inch howitzer shell actually fell in the position, setting fire to camouflage. This was also put out successfully. By his gallantry and fine example there is no doubt the guns and a large quantity of ammunition were saved from destruction.’

William Murray Matheson was born in Dublin in December 1876 and enlisted in the Royal Artillery as a boy recruit in December 1890, aged 14 years. Posted to 37th Field Battery in May 1895, he passed the Rough Riders Course at Woolwich in the following year and was advanced to Corporal in January 1898, shortly before his embarkation for Egypt and the Sudan, where he was present at the capture of Omdurman. Further active service followed in South Africa, as a recently promoted Sergeant, from November 1899 to September 1902, and in 1909 he added the L.S. & G.C. Medal to his accolades (A.O. 270 of that year refers).

A Battery Sergeant-Major by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in April 1915 and first entered the French theatre of war as a member of 38 Divisional R.F.A., 86 Brigade R.A., that December - hence his entitlement to the 1914-15 Star. But it was for his subsequent services with 121st Brigade, R.F.A., as an Acting Major, that he was awarded the D.S.O. and M.C., in addition to a “mention” in Haig’s despatch dated 8 November 1918.

Matheson was placed on the Retired List in December 1920, but joined the South Midland Brigade R.F.A. (Defence Force) in the following year. He died at Malvern Link, Worcestershire in December 1930.

Sold with a large quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s D.S.O. warrant and related statutes, the former dated 16 September 1918; his Buckingham Palace investiture admittance ticket, dated 18 September 1918; M.I.D. certificate, dated 8 November 1918, and 2nd Army, Headquarters, D.S.O. congratulatory certificate from General Plummer, dated 16 June 1918; Downing Street letter for services rendered during the national emergency, dated 4 July 1921; together with a newspaper obituary cutting and three portrait photographs; and a file of related research.