Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A very rare Toski group of three to Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. R. Morse, Royal Army Medical Corps

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Toski 1889 (Surgeon R. E. R. Morse, A.M. Dept.); Order of the Medjidie, 3rd class neck badge, silver, gold and enamels; Khedive’s Star, dated 1882, with Tokar clasp, unnamed, the first with light pitting, the second with chips to red enamel, generally very fine (3) £1200-1400

Only 2 single clasp Toski awards to Officers in the British army.

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Edward Ricketts Morse was born on 23 October 1856 at Newnham, Gloucester, elder brother of Thomas Ricketts Morse, a Surgeon Captain in the Army Medical Department. He was educated at Cheltenham and Guy’s Hospital, MRCS 1879 and LRCP.ED 1880. He first saw active service in the Egyptian operations of 1882 and was awarded the Egypt medal without clasp and the Khedives Egypt Star.

Following service at Netley from November 1882 till September 1884, Morse was next posted for service in West Africa from October 1884 until January 1886, when he returned home on sick leave. In February 1887 he was seconded for service with the Egyptian Army (Bimbashi) and remained with that service until March 1892.

In 1889 he was present at the actions of Arguin on the 2nd July and at Toski, being the Principal Medical Officer at Arguin and latterly, Senior Medical Officer with No 1 Column and subsequently earning the Toski clasp, being mentioned in Grenfell’s despatch and awarded the Order of the Medjidie, 3rd Class, for his services at this action.

Morse saw subsequent service overseas in Bengal, the Punjab and Madras, and went on retired pay in 1911. He was re-employed during the Great War on the R.A.M.C. Special Reserve but did not serve overseas. He services were brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for valuable service rendered in connection with the war (List published 24th February 1917, communiqué of 18th September 1917). Lieutenant-Colonel Morse died on 22 April 1935.