Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A pair of medals awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert McAlpine, Engineer and Railway Staff Corps, Royal Engineers, late 1st Lanarkshire Volunteers, 2nd Baronet McAlpine of Knott Park

British War Medal 1914-20 (Major R. McAlpine); Territorial Decoration, G.V.R., unnamed, with brooch bar, mounted court style for wear, nearly extremely fine (2) £200-240

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Long Service Medals from the Collection formed by John Tamplin.

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Robert McAlpine was born on 17 October 1868, the eldest son of Sir Robert McAlpine, 1st Baronet, 1847-1934. His father was the founder of McAlpine & Sons, Government and Public Works Contractors, who was created a Baronet in 1918. The younger Robert McAlpine was granted a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Lanarkshire Volunteers on 27 February 1892. He was promoted to Lieutenant in June 1892 and to Captain in June 1897. He resigned his commission on 19 February 1902. On the outbreak of the Great War he was appointed a Major in the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps, R.E. (T.F.). He served in France from October 1914, before he was commissioned on 24 December 1914. As he had entered a theatre of war under instructions from the War Office but did not serve on the establishment of a unit overseas, he became eligible for the British War Medal only, and did not receive the Victory Medal.Major McAlpine was awarded the Territorial Decoration, this notified in the London Gazette of 5 May 1925. In May 1927 he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Outside of the family business and the Territorial Army, his other interests in life included horse racing. His horse ‘Richmond III’ finished 3rd in the 1929 Grand National. McAlpine married in 1896, Lillias Cooper, daughter of Thomas George Bishop of Helenburgh. By her he had a son (who succeeded as 3rd Baronet) and two daughters. On his father’s death on 3 November 1934, Robert McAlpine succeeded him as 2nd Baronet. Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert McAlpine, Bt., T.D., died only 13 days later, on 16 November 1934, on the liner Warwick Castle, on its passage to Cape Town. Sold with copied research.