Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A good Great War C.B.E. group of eleven awarded to Brigadier C. A. Bolton, Royal Tank Corps, late Manchester Regiment, a veteran of the Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine operations who afterwards commanded a component of ‘the mother of all armoured divisions’, namely ‘the first mechanized formation to be born into the world’ (Liddell Hart refers)

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) Commander’s 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, in its Garrard & Co. case of issue; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut. C. A. Bolton, Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. C. A. Bolton); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Jubilee 1935; Egypt, Order of the Nile, 3rd Class neck badge, by Lattes, silver, silver-gilt and enamel; Greece, Order of the Redeemer, 3rd Class neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, mounted court-style as worn where appropriate, together with a set of related miniature dress medals, the Redeemer badge with chipped /slightly bent arm points, otherwise very fine and better (22) £1600-1800

C.B.E. London Gazette 1919.

Charles Arthur Bolton was born in January 1882, the son of Charles Bolton, C.S.I., Indian Civil Service, and was educated at Marlborough and New College, Oxford - at which establishments he excelled at rugby football, afterwards playing as a flanker for the Army, the Barbarians and as an England International 1908-09.

Having been commissioned in the Manchester Regiment in January 1902, Bolton was embarked for France in August 1914 as a Staff Captain and D.A.A.G. River Transport, in which capacity he served until the end of the year and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 17 February 1915 refers). Subsequently embarked for the Mediterranean theatre of war, he served as a Brigade Major in Gallipoli, April to September 1915, gaining another “mention” (London Gazette 5 August 1915 refers), and afterwards back in France and Flanders from June to November 1916. Thereafter he was actively engaged in the Salonika and Palestine operations from December 1916 until June 1917 and, as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, from July 1917 until October 1918, in which period he won two further “mentions” (London Gazettes 4 January 1917 and 5 June 1919 refer). He was also awarded the C.B.E., and the 3rd Class of the Egyptian Order of the Nile and the Greek Order of the Redeemer (Army Lists refer).

Post-war, Bolton transferred to the Royal Tank Corps, serving as D.A.A. & Q.M.G. at the Tank Corps Centre 1921-24 and, on being advanced to Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1927, as C.O. of the 5th Battalion, R.T.C., in which latter capacity his unit formed part of the ‘mother of all armoured divisions’, namely ‘the first mechanized formation to be born into the world’ (Liddell Hart’s history of the Corps refers). Having then served as Commandant of the Royal Tank Corps Centre from 1931, he was placed on the Retired List in 1935, but was recalled in the rank of Brigadier in the 1939-45 War, when he served in the B.E.F. 1939-40 and as Director of Pioneers and Labour, G.H.Q. Middle East, 1940-41, adding two further “mentions” to his accolades. Settling in Eastbourne after the War, the Brigadier died in November 1964.

Sold with four original photograph albums, one covering the period 1916-26, including a fine selection of images from Palestine in 1917, and ending with Royal Tank Corps scenes in India; another the period 1926-36, and thus with a fine array of Tank Corps subject matter, including many captioned group shots, visits by royalty, Churchill, etc.; another the period 1915-17, mainly of a scrapbook nature, with an assortment of ephemera, including old carbon copies of Gallipoli reports and signals, etc.; and the fourth the period 1913 to 1925, with many scenes from India in the latter year. All in all a fine archive, particularly in respect of the Royal Tank Corps in the 1920s and 1930s.