Orders, Decorations and Medals

Four: Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond Coape Barry-Smith, 17th Cavalry

1914-15 Star (Maj., 17/Cav.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf (Maj.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1919-21 (Lt. Col., 17 Cavy.) mounted as worn, good very fine and better (4) £280-320

Raymond Coape Barry-Smith was born on 31 May 1874. After attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant with the Gloucestershire Regiment on 20 May 1893 and advanced to Lieutenant in November 1896. In July 1898 he transferred to the Indian Staff Corps and in April 1900 was appointed Squadron Officer with the 17th Bengal Lancers. He was promoted to Captain in May 1902 and Major in May 1911, and in March 1915 he was second in command of the regiment. A composite Pathan squadron of 17th Cavalry went to East Africa in January 1915 and returned to India in January 1917. Barry-Smith served in East Africa in 1917, and as a Major was mentioned in despatches by General J. C. Smuts, C-in-C. East Africa (London Gazette 8 February 1917). He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandant of the 17th Cavalry in June 1917. Post-war he served in Waziristan and retired on 19 June 1922. He was the 10th Commandant of the Regiment (1917-22).

With copied research, including an article by I. McInnes, in Coin & Medal News, January 1988, ‘An Indian Cavalry Regiment’ - in which Lieutenant-Colonel Barry-Smith is mentioned.