Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An Order of St. John group of three awarded to Dr Catherine Mabel Edgerley, nee Blackwood

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer’s (Sister’s) shoulder badge, 28 x 28mm., silver and enamel; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s badge, silver and enamel, unnamed; St. John Service Medal (15403 D/Sgn. C. M. Edgerley, Otley Nsg. Div. No. 5 Dis. S.J.A.B. 1936) silver, good very fine and better (3) £80-100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Awards to the Medical Services from the Collection of the late Tony Sabell.

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Catherine Mabel Blackwood was born in Edinburgh on 17 December 1868. Her great uncle, William Blackwood, established the famous publishing house, William Blackwood & Sons. She was educated in Edinburgh and Dresden and was one of the first few women to qualify as a doctor of medicine in Edinburgh. She took the L.R.C.P., M.R.C.S. at Edinburgh and the L.R.F.P.S. at Glasgow. She was at one time the Assistant Medical Officer at the West Riding Mental Hospital at Sheffield and was also the Surgeon-Instructress of the Otley Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade. Her medical work came to an end when she married Dr Samuel Edgerley, Medical Superintendent of the Menston Asylum, in 1907. After that, aside from her continued work with the Order of St. John, her main interest was in the Brontë Society. With copied research, including a photograph of the recipient.