Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War C.M.G. group of eleven awarded to Colonel Edward Agar, late Royal Engineers, a Pollock Gold Medallist who was attached to the Japanese Army in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War 1904-05, and was later British Representitive on the Dano-German Boundary Commission for Slesvig 1920-21

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Major E. Agar, R.E.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Maj. E. Agar, R.E.); British War Medal (Col. E. Agar); France, Legion of Honour, Officer’s breast badge, gold and enamels; Belgium, Order of Leopold I, Officer’s breast badge with swords, silver-gilt and enamels; Japan, Russo-Japanese War Medal 1904-05; Japan, Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; Japan, Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels, repair to one red cabochon ‘jewel’; Russia, Order of St Anne, 2nd class neck badge by Edouard, gold and enamels; Denmark, Slesvig Medal 1920, generally nearly extremely fine (11) £3500-4000

C.M.G. London Gazette 1 January 1919.

Legion of Honour London Gazette 15 April 1916.

Order of St Anne London Gazette 24 November 1916.

Order of Leopold London Gazette 21 September 1917.

Order of the Rising Sun London Gazette 10 October 1918.

Edward Agar was born on 30 May 1859, son of Major Edward Walter Agar, late Bombay Infantry, and educated at Cheltenham College, August 1870-76 (Junior (Mathematical) Scholar, 1872; Senior (Mathematical) Scholar, 1874; Hornby Prize, 1874; Schacht Prize, 1875-76). He attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, 1876-78, where he ‘passed in’ First in order of merit, and ‘passed out’ First Engineer, having won the Pollock Gold Medal and Prizes for Mathematics and Mechanics, German, Spanish, and Italian. He joined the Royal Engineers in 1877, becoming Captain in 1888, Major in 1896, Lieutenant-Colonel in 1903, and Colonel in 1908. He passed staff college in 1886, qualified in German as a voluntary subject and in Russian as an extra subject, and served subsequently as Staff Captain (Intelligence), Headquarters of Army, 1891-94; Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General (Intelligence, Headquarters of Army, 1894-96.

Agar served in the South African war, 1900-02, in command of the 26th Company, Royal Engineers, and took part in the operations in the Orange River Colony, and in the Transvaal (Mentioned in despatches, Queen’s Medal with 3 clasps, King’s Medal with 2 clasps). He was attached to the Japanese Army in Manchuria, July to September 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War, and was author of a report on Russian and Japanese Field Defences (Japanese War Medal and 3rd class Order of Sacred Treasure).

Colonel Agar retired in 1911 but was recalled in 1914 to be a General Staff Officer, First Class (G.S.O.1) at the War Office, 1914-17. From 1917-20 he was Colonel in charge of records, Royal Engineers (Transport Section). After the war, Colonel Agar was British Representitive on the Dano-German Boundary Commission 1920-21, by which the Duchy of Slesvig was returned to the Danish Crown. Colonel Agar died in France on 28 October 1930. Sold with some research including copy m.i.c. which confirms entitlement to British War Medal only (Theatre of War: Western Europe ‘A’; qualifying date, 24 September 1917).