Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare example of the prestigious Lawrence Memorial Medal to a lady missionary and explorer, Miss Mildred Cable, who, among other achievements over three decades in China, crossed the Gobi Desert on no less than five occasions

The Royal Central Asian Society’s Lawrence Memorial Medal, silver, obverse, head of Lawrence of Arabia wearing Arabic head dress, reverse, skull and horns of the desert Ibex superimposed on a rayed sun, ‘Lawrence Memorial Medal; Cornua Levat Super Terras’, officially inscribed to ‘Mildred Cable’, 50mm., in its Royal Mint fitted case of issue, extremely fine £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Ron Penhall Collection: Important Awards and Memorabilia of Lawrence of Arabia Interest.

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Alice Mildred Cable was born in Guildford on 21 February 1878. A trained pharmacist and and a Protestant missionary, she joined the China Inland Mission in 1901 and, rare periods of leave back in England aside, remained similarly employed until forced to leave China in 1936, but latterly having worked for the British Bible Society.

Teaming-up with Evangeline French on her arrival in China, and later joined by the latter’s sister, Francesca, she crossed the Gobi Desert on no less than five occasions, in addition to visiting the surrounding regions. Fluent in several local dialects, Cable and the French sisters won the admiration of all, the former attributing their success to their ‘combination of grey hairs, celibate state and pilgrim life’.

But they also won the admiration of assorted universities and scientific institutions back home, where their bold exploration of the Gobi and beyond was ultimately recognised by Cable being awarded the highly prestigious Lawrence Memorial Medal of the Royal Central Asian Society in 1942 - in the following year the same award was bestowed upon the Chindit leader, Major-General Orde Wingate, D.S.O.

In presenting Cable with her award, the Chairman of the Society stated:

“Then we come to Miss Mildred Cable, the recipient of the Medal for 1942. Miss Cable’s thrilling book, The Gobi Desert, tells you of all her adventures and those of her companions, the two Misses French, through their fifteen years’ sojourn in that desert land. It is true that explorers have traversed the desert, but nobody before has remained in the country for so long, has gained such a great knowledge of it, and has become so intimate with the inhabitants, by whom these three ladies were so justly loved. You can imagine their privations. You can imagine what it must have meant to live, as they did, under the most primitive conditions, and I would venture to suggest that they were only sustained by great determination and courage and true belief in their very high calling.”

To which Miss Cable replied:

“Thank you very much. It is a very great honour to receive this Medal. And particularly my friends and I are glad because it is a recognition, I believe, of the importance which we, as a country, place on the missionary work of the Church. We believe that this is the foundation on which happy relationships will come between the nations. It has been our delight for fifteen years to go up and down the Gobi Desert roads, and during those years we have met with many who are now rejoicing with us in the same belief, which we believe is the foundation of our national greatness. Thank you very much.”

Cable, and the French sisters, retired to Dorset, where she was much in demand as a public speaker, and wrote several books with Francesca French. Cable died in Dorset on 30 April 1952; sold with copies of three of those books, namely The Gobi Desert; Through the Jade Gate, and The Book Which Demands a Verdict, together with some copied research.