Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Colonial Police L.S. & G.C. awarded to Inspector Arthur Cecil Stopher, late Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Royal Flying Corps and the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary

Colonial Police L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (Inspr. A. C. Stopher) in case of issue, extremely fine £250-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A small collection relating to the Easter Rebellion 1916 and the Anglo-Irish War 1919-22.

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Arthur Cecil Stopher was born in Charlton, London on 10 January 1898. Enlisting during the Great War he entered the Egypt theatre of war as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 16 March 1916. As a Temporary Lieutenant in the Garrison Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers he was transferred to the General List in November 1916 and was later posted as a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. Serving in the Balkans with No. 47 Squadron, the Armstrong Whitworth FK3 aircraft flown by Lieutenant Stopher, R.F.C. was forced to land behind enemy lines at Demir Hisoda on 12 February 1917; Stopher remained a P.O.W. until the end of the war, his captured aircraft is believed to have been used by Bulgarian forces for 42 night bombing raids until it was shot up and forced to land on 23 March 1918. Released from captivity, Lieutenant Stopher, R.A.F. was transferred to the Unemployed List on 10 September 1919. Stopher was appointed a Temporary Cadet in the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary on 31 July 1920. He later served as an Inspector in the Colonial Police.

The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary was a paramilitary organisation within the R.I.C. formed during the Anglo-Irish War 1919-22. It was composed of ex British officers who had formerly served in the Great War. Formed in July 1920, by November 1920 the A.D.R.I.C. was 1,900 strong. The A.D.R.I.C. was the second of two paramilitary organisations instituted to augment the beleaguered R.I.C. - the other being the more numerous ‘Black & Tans’ who were mostly composed of British W.W.1 veterans employed by the R.I.C. as Temporary Constables.

With copied research, including A.D.R.I.C. roll extract.