Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Sergeant J. Smith, Royal Engineers, who was awarded the D.C.M. for his bravery at the defence of Ambigol Wells in December 1885 - which decoration he received from the Queen at Osborne House in January 1887

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, The Nile 1884-85 (13482 Corpl., 24th Co. R.E.); Khedive’s Star, 1882, contact wear and edge bruising, nearly very fine or better (2) £400-500

John Smith was born in Croydon, Surrey and enlisted in the Royal Engineers in March 1876, aged 23 years. A stint of garrison duty in Bermuda followed, so, too, his advancement to Corporal, and in August 1882 he was embarked for Egypt with the 24th Company, R.E., in which unit he was present in the action at Kassasin in the following month.

Re-embarked for the U.K., he returned to Egypt in September 1884 as part of the Nile Expedition, and in early December 1885 won the D.C.M. ‘for his gallant conduct at the defence of Ambigol Wells, where he, with others under him, completed the left face of the redan under fire’ (The Times, 6 January 1887 refers); for a full account of the defence see Peter Abbott’s article in the O.M.R.S. Journal, Winter 1990, pp. 246-253.

Having then returned home via Malta in the summer of 1886, and been promoted to Sergeant ‘for meritorious service in the Nile Expedition’ (his service record refers), Smith served overseas on two further occasions, namely in Gibraltar 1890-93 and in Ceylon 1893-94. He was discharged in January 1895.