Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine Great War 1915 operations M.C. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. G. Forsyth, 4th Dragoon Guards, late Scottish Rifles, Northumberland Fusiliers and Seaforth Highlanders, who was twice wounded and once gassed on the Western Front

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately inscribed, ‘Capt. Bt. Major F. R. G. Forsyth, 1915’; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lieut. F. R. G. Forsyth, Scot. Rif.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1908 (Lieut. F. R. G. Forsyth, 1st Bn. Sea. Highrs.); 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut. F. R. G. Forsyth, Sea. Highrs.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Bt. Major F. R. G. Forsyth), these last two with further private inscription after surname, ‘4th D. Gds.’; Royal Humane Society’s Medal, small, bronze (2nd Lieut. F. R. G. Forsyth, July 6, 1905), complete with riband buckle, this last with refitted suspension, contact marks, lacquered and somewhat polished, thus nearly very fine or better (7) £1600-1800

M.C. London Gazette 14 January 1916.

Frederick Richard Gerrard Forsyth was born in Netherleigh, Leamington in November 1882, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Arthur Forsyth, late 5th Fusiliers, and was educated at Sandroyd School and Wellington College.

Appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Scottish Rifles, in April 1901, he witnessed active service in South Africa, where he was present in operations in Cape Colony, Transvaal and Orange Free State – and injured on the occasion of the derailment of No. 12 Armoured Train (Queen’s Medal & 5 clasps). The latter incident is mentioned in a letter of recommendation for a Regular Army commission from General G. T. Pretyman:

‘I recommended him for one when I was at Kimberley. The lad was badly shaken in an armoured train accident which occurred up by Taunga some months ago. I knew all about the accident. Young Forsyth was working in the train under Grant of the Black Watch, who was one of the best captains of an armoured train we had ... ’

Duly granted a commission in the Northumberland Fusiliers in May 1902, Forsyth won his Royal Humane Society Medal for rescuing one of his men who got into difficulty while bathing in a river at Fenit, Co. Kerry, in July 1905 (R.H.S. Case No. 33,996 refers).

In February 1908, after transferring to the Seaforth Highlanders as a Lieutenant, he quickly witnessed further action on the North West Frontier in Mohmand country (Medal & clasp). And shortly after the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, after attachment as a Captain to the Army Signals Service, he served out in France and Flanders from October 1914 until September 1915, including a brief stint as an A.D.C. to the G.O.C. 4th Division. And, as verified by the following private medical report, he was twice wounded in the same period:

‘Mr. Forsyth has been under my immediate medical supervision for some years. His war medical history dates from June 1915:

June, 1915: wounded in the face. Machine-gun fire. France.

September, 1915: wounded head and scalp. H.E. France.’

Forsyth was awarded the M.C., went on to witness further action out on the Salonika front from January 1916 until June 1917, latterly in the 4th Dragoon Guards, and again in France and Flanders, but was invalided after being gassed in the Ypres Salient in November of the latter year. In addition to his M.C., he won a brace of “mentions” (London Gazette 1 January 1916 (France) and 21 July 1917 (Salonika) refer), and was latterly employed as A.D.C. to the G.O.C. in Ireland from June 1918 until May 1919.

Placed on the Retired List in November 1926, Forsyth transferred to the Territorials with an appointment as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the 51st Highland Division, Royal Signals, in the same month, in which capacity he served until resigning his commission in October 1928. He was, however, recalled on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, and served as an Honorary Colonel in 51st/52nd Scottish Divisional Signals from November 1941.

Forsyth, who was a Deputy Lieutenant of the City and County of Aberdeen, died in 1962; sold with three files of research, a mass of career information copied from T.N.A. sources.