The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals Relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of the Sudan

Pair: Lieutenant-Colonel Alban John Reynolds, an Australian who served on the Miri patrol before going on to command Hodson’s Horse in India where he died suddenly during operations on the North West Frontier

India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1930-31 (Lt-Col., Hodson’s Horse); Khedive’s Sudan 1910-22, 1st issue, 1 clasp (loose), Miri, unnamed, nearly extremely fine (2) £1000-1200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Allan and Janet Woodliffe Collection of Medals relating to the Reconquest and Pacification of The Sudan 1896-1956.

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Alban John Reynolds was born on 19 January 1881. He served in the ranks of the 23rd Tasmanian Contingent, October 1899-May 1900. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 19 May 1900 and was advanced to Lieutenant in November 1902. During the Boer War he served in the advance on Kimberley, December 1899; operations in Cape Colony, including the action at Colesburg, February 1900; operations in Orange Free State, February-May 1900, including the action at Vet River, 5-6 May, and Zand River, 10 May; operations in the Transvaal, May-June 1900, including the actions near Johannesburg, 20 May, Pretoria, 4 June, and Diamond Hill, 11-12 June; operations in the Transvaal, east of Pretoria, July-November 1900, including the action at Belfast; operations in the Orange River Colony, April-November 1901. For his services he was awarded the Queen’s medal with six clasps.

Posted to India and service with the 15th Lancers in March 1902; he transferred to the Indian establishment as a Lieutenant in April 1903. In May 1909 he became a Captain in the 37th Lancers (Baluch Horse).

Reynolds was employed with the Egyptian Army in July 1914. In the Sudan he served in operations against the Jebel Miri in Kaduga District, Nuba Mountain Province, March-July 1915 and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 25 October 1916). On 1 September 1915 he was advanced to Major. He then served in India, March-October 1916; France, October 1916-February 1918, and with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, March 1918-February 1919. He was appointed a Squadron Commander in the 37th Lancers in September 1918 and was posted as Acting Lieutenant-Colonel and Senior Service Officer with the Jodhpur Imperial Service Lancers in Palestine in December 1918. For his service in Palestine he was again mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 5 June 1919).

Post-war he continued to serve with the Indian Army. In January 1925 he was transferred to the 4th Duke of Cambridge’s Own Lancers (Hodson’s Horse) as 2 i/c and was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1926. Appointed Commandant of Hodson’s Horse on 15 February 1928, he served on the N.W. Frontier, 1930. Lieutenant-Colonel Reynolds died suddenly on 6 September 1930.

With copied research.