Orders, Decorations and Medals

Three: Honorary Colonel H. Walker, East Yorkshire Regiment, late 14th Foot, who ‘had charge of the mischief making monarch King Prempeh’ in the closing stages of the Ashanti expedition of 1895-96

Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (2nd Lieut. H. Walker, 2nd Bn. 14th Regt.); Ashanti Star 1896 (Capt. Henry Walker, 2 W. Yorks. R.) engraved in the usual regimental style; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1902 (Lt. Col. H. Walker, E. York. Rgt.) contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine (3) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The collection of Medals formed by the Late Clive Nowell.

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Henry Walker was born in Edinburgh on 6 May 1860, and commissioned into the 14th Foot as a 2nd Lieutenant on 22 January 1879. After service in Afghanistan, including the engagement at Mazina and the Kama expedition, he was next in action in the Ashanti expedition of 1895-96 for which he was mentioned in despatches. Not only did he take possession of the Ashanti Royal Palace on 20 January 1896, but, as a later issue of The Tatler recounts, ‘Major Henry Walker commanded the Rearguard on the return to the coast and had charge of the mischief making monarch, King Prempeh. By way of recognising the work of the 14th in the Ashanti Campaign, the Governor of the Gold Coast presented to the 2nd Battalion some of the trophies taken from Prempeh’s Palace at Kumassi, including the state chair of Shanti, Prempeh’s bed, state umbrellas and two war drums with a human skull attached’.

After retiring on 15 February 1899, Walker held two posts in the U.K. and was then appointed to the Command of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment which he took to South Africa for the closing stages of the Boer War. He continued with this command until 2 March 1907, on which date he was appointed Honorary Colonel. Placed in command of the 10th Battalion of the West Yorkshires in September 1914, ill health forced his retirement in the following year and he died prematurely on 21 July 1917.