Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A defence of Mafeking pair awarded to Brigadier-General C. M. Ryan, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O., Army Service Corps, who was decorated as a result of a glowing “mention” from Baden-Powell

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Defence of Mafeking, Transvaal (Major C. M. Ryan, D.S.O., A.S.C.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Maj. C. M. Ryan, D.S.O., A.S.C.), generally good very fine (2) £1600-1800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals relating to the Boer War formed by two brothers.

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Charles Montgomerie Ryan, who was born in August 1867, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel E. M. Ryan, Bengal Staff Corps, was educated at Winchester and Jesus College, Cambridge. Originally commissioned in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in August 1888, he transferred to the Devonshire Regiment in April of the following year, and thence, in September 1890, to the Army Service Corps.

Ryan first witnessed active service in South Africa, where he served on the Staff as D.A.A.G. from September 1899 until May 1902, not least at the defence of Mafeking, when he was present in the actions of 26 December 1899 and 12 May 1900, and had command of the commissariat, work that gained him a glowing mention in Baden-Powell’s Mafeking despatch of 17 May 1900:

‘Captain Ryan A.S.C. and D.A.A.G. (B.) proved an exceptionally capable and energetic supply officer; onto his shoulders fell the whole work of feeding the entire community - garrison, non-combatants and natives - a duty which he carried out with conspicuous success (practically unassisted), as we took the food supply out of the hands of contractors and merchants; and he lost the services of his two chief assistants, Captain Girdwood, killed, and Sergeant Loney, convicted of theft of Government stores. Captain Ryan’s work has been invaluable and he has mainly contributed to the successful issue of the siege.’

A week or two later, Baden-Powell added Ryan’s name to a list of officers and men worthy of ‘special recognition’, in a despatch sent to Lord Roberts from Ottoshoop on 6 June 1900, a recommendation that resulted in the award of his D.S.O., which insignia, as a newly promoted Major, he received from the G.O.C. Cape Colony in November 1901.

From November 1903 to October 1906, Ryan was Assistant Director of Supplies at Woolwich Dockyard, and from April 1908 to April 1911, Deputy Assistant Director of Quartering, H.Q., in which latter period he was advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel.

A substantive Colonel by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he went out to France in the same year and, from March to July 1915 served as A.A. and Q.M.G., 7th Division, B.E.F., gaining a “mention” in Field Marshal Sir John French’s despatch of 14 February 1915 (Ypres-Armentieres). And from July 1915 until September 1918, he served as Deputy Director Supplies, gaining the C.M.G. in 1916 and the C.B.E. in 1918, in addition to receiving the Officer’s grade French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre.

The General died in July 1935.