Auction Catalogue

25 September 2008

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations and Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 1672

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25 September 2008

Hammer Price:
£2,100

A Second World War Italy operations D.S.O., Middle East operations O.B.E., group of ten awarded to Brigadier B. Barrington, Colonel Commandant of the Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, late Assistant-Adjutant and Quarter-Master General, 2nd N.Z.E.F. and a veteran of the Greek, Libyan and Italian campaigns

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, the reverse of the crown privately engraved with his service number, ‘31625’; Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R. 1st issue, the reverse of the suspension bar officially dated ‘1945’; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; New Zealand War Service Medal 1939-45, these six privately engraved, ‘31625 Lt. Col. B. Barrington, 2 N.Z.E.F.’; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., New Zealand, the reverse officially engraved, ‘Lt. Col. B. Barrington, 2 N.Z.E.F.’; Greek Medal for Outstanding Acts, with ‘1940’ clasp, the reverse privately engraved, ‘Lt. Col. B. Barrington, 2 N.Z.E.F.’, mounted for display within a wooden case, with flanking portrait photograph, the lid bearing an engraved plaque, ‘Refurbished for Mrs. B. Barrington by 1 Base Workshop, R.N.Z.E.M.E., 1975’, good very fine and better (10) £1800-2200

O.B.E. London Gazette 25 November 1943.

D.S.O.
London Gazette 28 June 1945.

Benjamin Barrington, who was born in 1908 and educated at the Marton District High School, was commissioned in the New Zealand Territorials in 1926 and served continuously with the Wellington West Coast Regiment until seconded to the 2nd Contingent N.Z.E.F. in 1939. Having then served in England from June to September 1940, he was embarked for the Middle East and served as a Captain in the 6th Infantry Brigade during the Greek campaign and as a Brigade Major in the Libyan campaign.

Barrington next attended the Staff College in Palestine, following which he was appointed Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master General to H.Q., 2nd N.Z.E.F., in which capacity he was awarded the O.B.E. and a mention in despatches (
London Gazette 30 May 1942 refers), and added the Efficiency Decoration to his accolades in October 1943. Transferring to the Italian front in 1944, he served as Assistant-Adjutant and Quarter-Master General, 2nd N.Z.E.F. and, in addition to the D.S.O., was awarded the Greek Medal for Outstanding Acts for assisting 3 Greek Mounted Brigade during the battles of Rimini, Bellaria and Rubicone (London Gazette 19 November 1944). He was also employed in the Cassino operations and was awarded another “mention” (London Gazette 16 December 1944 refers).

The Brigadier, who was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers after the War, died suddenly in April 1954; sold with an old newspaper obituary and 1939-45 campaign award forwarding slip.