Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War C.M.G., D.S.O. and Bar group of eight awarded to Brigadier-General Arthur Richard Careless Sanders, General Staff, late Royal Engineers, who was killed in action on 20 September 1918

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, C.M.G., Companion’s neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with neck cravat, in Garrard, London case of issue; Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (loose), silver-gilt and enamel, complete with brooch bar, in Garrard, London case of issue; India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1908 (Captn, R.E.) with an erasure after unit; 1914 Star (Major, R.E.); British War and Victory Medals (Brig. Gen.); Delhi Durbar 1911 (Capt. A. R. C. Sanders, R.E.); France, Legion of Honour, Officer’s breast badge, gold and enamel, with rosette on ribbon, in Aucoc, Paris case of issue; Memorial Plaque (Arthur Richard Careless Sanders), Delhi Durbar and I.G.S. mounted as worn; together with a corresponding mounted pair of miniature dress medals, good very fine and better (11) £3000-3500

D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1916. ‘Major and Brevet Lieut. Colonel, Royal Engineers.’

Bar to D.S.O. London Gazette 2 December 1918. ‘Major and Brevet Lieut-Colonel, Royal Engineers, attached 1st Battn. Essex Regt.’ ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his battalion with great courage and determination in an attack, capturing and consolidating all his objectives in spite of heavy fire. It was due to his initiative that a battery of enemy guns in front of the objective was captured. His personal influence and good leadership were largely responsible for the success achieved by the battalion.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 22 June 1915; 15 June 1916; 4 January 1917.

Arthur Richard Careless Sanders was born on 20 January 1877. Entering the Army, he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 18 January 1897. Advanced to Lieutenant in January 1900 and Captain in January 1906, he served on the North West Frontier of India during 1908. Serving in the Great War, he was promoted to Major in October 1914 and received the brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel in June 1915. For his service as a General Staff Officer he was awarded the D.S.O. and the French Legion of Honour. Promoted to Brigadier-General, on 9 September 1918 he took over command of the 50th Brigade of the 17th (Northern) Division in France. Commanding his brigade in the advance from the Canal du Nord to the Selle, Brigadier-General Sanders was killed in action on 20 September 1918. In the early morning he had gone up to inspect the front about the Quentin Redoubt. After daylight he was returning to his Brigade H.Q. and as he crossed the railway, he was caught in machine-gun fire from Gouzeaucourt and killed on the spot. He was buried in the Five Points Cemetery, Lechelle, Pas de Calais, France. After his death the London Gazette announced the award of a Bar to his D.S.O. for service as a Lieutenant-Colonel with the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment. Aged 41 years at the time of his death; he was the son of Richard Careless Sanders (late Indian Medical Service) and Margaret Cramer Sanders of ‘Holmbush’, Barcombe, Lewes, Sussex.

With photocopied Legion of Honour bestowal document, named to ‘Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel A. R. C. Sanders, R.E., General Staff Officer 2nd Grade, 3rd Armee Britannique.’, dated 17 January 1917; with associated document; together with riband bar, a number of badges and some copied research.