Orders, Decorations and Medals

Four: Major-General W. C. Hunter-Blair, C.B., C.M.G., Royal Artillery, G.O.C. Malta 1915-19
Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (Major, 16/Co. E. Div. R.A.) impressed naming; British War Medal (Maj. Gen.); Coronation 1911; Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, The Atbara, unnamed as issued, together with a Royal Artillery officer’s dress tunic, cross belt and leather pouch, good very fine (4) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by the late Robert Lamb.

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Walter Charles Hunter-Blair was born in September 1860, 5th son of Sir Edward Hunter-Blair, 4th Baronet. He entered the Royal Artillery as a Lieutenant in February 1880 and served in the Soudan in 1898, where he was present at the battle of the Atbara. He was mentioned in Kitchener’s despatch of 10 April, 1898, for his ‘valuable services’ at the battle of the Atbara. Following the campaign on the Nile, he was posted to Malta as Brigade-Major from 1901-04. From 1904-12, he held variously, Officer Commanding 1st Heavy Brigade R.G.A., Fareham, and R.A. at Guernsey and Alderney in the Channel Islands. He was Assistant Adjutant-General at the War Office from 1913 to March 1916, when he was appointed General Officer Commanding troops at Malta. He remained in Malta for the duration of the war where he became a Member of the Executive Council and sometime Acting Governor. For his services during the war his name was brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for distinguished services (1917), created a Companion of the Bath (1915), Companion of St Michael & St George (1917), and was awarded the 2nd class of the Serbian White Eagle, and the 3rd class of the French Legion of Honour. He was entitled to the British War Medal only for his services in Malta during the war. Major-General Hunter-Blair died at his home in East Lothian on 24 November 1938, aged 78.