Auction Catalogue

19 & 20 March 2008

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

Lot

№ 750

.

20 March 2008

Hammer Price:
£110

A group of five military presentation medallions awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel G. J. W. Malet, O.B.E., Royal Hussars

U.S.A., Department of the Army, by Dondero Inc., obv. trophy-of-arms, rev. plain, undated, 76mm., bronze-gilt, in case of issue, inside with plaque, ‘Presented by General John A. Wickham, Jr, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army’; Portugal, Ecército Português, obv. heraldic shield and helmet, rev. inscribed, ‘From General Jorge Salazar Braga, Chief of the Portuguese Army Staff, March 1985’, 90mm., bronze, in velvet covered case of issue; Brazil, Ecército Brasileiro, obv. bust of Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, Duque de Caxias (1803-1880), undated, 70mm., silvered bronze, in velvet covered case of issue bearing gilt and enamel emblem of Brazil, inside of lid inscribed, ‘Exército Brasileiro Presença Nacional’; France, Plaquette, bearing a shield marked, ‘E.M.A.T.’ and the inscription, ‘Offert par le Général d’Armée Maurice Schmitt Chef d’Etat-Major de l’Armée de Terre Française au Lieutenant-Colonel G. J. Malet, Mars 1987’, 125 x 77mm., silvered metal, in Delsart, Sens case of issue; Oriental (? Vietnam), Commemorative Bronze Medal, 1927-1987, 49mm, in case of issue, all unnamed except where stated, virtually mint state (5) £80-120

O.B.E. London Gazette 31 December 1987. ‘Lieutenant Colonel, The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales’s Own)’. Recommendation states, ‘Lt Col Malet has been Head of the Army Section of the Foreign Liaison Section since November 1983. His duties cover maintaining a close liaison with all the foreign MilitaryAttaches in London, staffing their many requests for information, hosting representational functions, arranging and escorting Attache group visits to UK and BAOR Military establishments, coordinating programmes for foreign military visitors and planning, programme and escorting CGS’s inbound COS visitors. ...... Dealing with the representatives of foreign countries provides unlimited scope for disaster but he has always foreseen and therefore averted problems. He is held in extremely high regard by all the foreign representatives who value his friendship, direction and help. ....’

Greville John Wyndham Malet was born on 6 December 1939, the son of Captain John Wyndham Malet (1910-40) and June Rosalind neé Broadley, and was a scion of the Malet Baronets. He was educated at Harrow and in July 1958, after serving in the ranks for 242 days, he gained a commission in the 10th Hussars. Following the regiment’s amalgamation with the 11th Hussars in 1969, he continued to serve with the Royal Hussars. He was appointed G.S.O.2 (Author) at the R.A.C. Tactical School, December 1971-January 1974 and held the rank of Acting-Major from December 1971 until promoted to that rank in December 1972. In July 1980 he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; was awarded the O.B.E. in 1987 and was placed on Retired Pay in February 1990. He married in 1972, the Hon. Margaret Cherry Wigram, eldest daughter of the 2nd Baron Wigram, with whom he had two children. Latterly living at the Walled House, Hathertop, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, he died on 5 September 2004.

William Malet, the founder of the Malet family in England, was a companion of William the Conqueror at Hastings and was related by marriage to Rollo, 1st Duke of Normandy. Sold with copied research.