Orders, Decorations and Medals

Field Marshal Sir Francis Wogan Festing, G.C.B., K.B.E., D.S.O., late East Lancashire Regiment
Riband bar, on buckram, in two strips, bearing the ribbons: Order of the British Empire, 2nd type, military; Order of the Bath; Distinguished Service Order; 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Coronation 1953; U.S.A. Legion of Merit, with ‘Commander’ emblem; China; Order of the Cloud and Banner; together with buttons (10) and cloth and metal uniform insignia, good condition (lot) £30-40

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Ribbons from the Collection of the late Judge Henry Pownall.

View
Collection

Riband bar, buttons and insignia attributed to Field Marshal Sir Francis Wogan Festing. As the Order of the British Empire is in the ‘senior position’ to the Order of the Bath, the riband bar may be dated to the period 1952-57, the recipient having been awarded the C.B.E. in 1945, C.B. in 1946, K.B.E. in 1952, K.C.B. in 1956 and G.C.B. in 1957.

Francis Wogan Festing was born in 1902 and educated at Winchester and Sandhurst. He entered the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade in 1921. In 1939 he was a Lieutenant-Colonel and commanded the 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment. He commanded a Brigade in Madagascar in 1941 and commanded the 36th Division in Burma, 1942-45. Post-war he was GOC British Troops in Egypt, 1952-54; GOC-in-C Eastern Command, 1954-56; and C-in-C. FARELF, 1956-58. Attaining the rank of Field Marshal in 1960 and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, 1953-65, he died in 1976.

With a letter from a former owner of the Field Marshal’s uniform.