Auction Catalogue

25 & 26 March 2014

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 1103

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26 March 2014

Hammer Price:
£3,700

An interesting diplomat’s post-war G.C.M.G. group of eight awarded to Sir Reginald Hibbert, latterly British Ambassador to France, who was parachuted in to Axis-occupied Albania as an S.O.E. Liaison Officer in December 1943 - a well documented chapter of danger and hardship which included rapid departure from a village where the Germans burnt to death the local priest: returning to regular employment in the 4th Hussars at the end of 1944, he was wounded and won a “mention” as a Troop Leader in Italy

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, G.C.M.G., Knight Grand Cross set of insignia, comprising sash badge, silver-gilt and enamels, and breast star, silver, with silver-gilt and enamel centre, in its Spink & Son Ltd. case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, with their original named and addressed card forwarding box; France, Legion of Honour, Commander’s neck badge, gilt and enamel, in its case of issue, with lapel badge; People’s Republic of Albania, Order of Liberty, 1st Class, gilt and enamel, with silvered centre, by Ikon, Zagreb, screw-back device for wearing, enamel slightly chipped on obverse of the Legion of Honour, otherwise generally good very fine and better (Lot) £4000-5000




G.C.M.G. London Gazette 31 December 1981.

Reginald Alfred Hibbert was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Hussars direct from Worcester College, Oxford, in 1942, but was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) in the following year, his departure overseas with his regiment having been delayed by a broken jaw. Duly embarked for the Middle East, he was trained as an S.O.E. Liaison Officer in Palestine and then parachuted into Albania in December 1943 to work alongside the “Nationalists” and, later still, the Partisans. The team he jumped with that night included four wireless operators and fellow Liaison Officers John Hibberdine and Ian Merrett.

Luckily for posterity’s sake, many of S.O.E’s operatives in Albania subsequently published accounts of their experiences, not least Julian Amery in
Sons of the Eagle, Peter Kemp in No Colours of Crest, David Smiley in Albanian Assignment and “Trotsky” Davies in Illyrian Adventure and the actor Anthony Quayle in A Time to Speak, so first hand accounts of the appalling conditions and dangers endured by the likes of Hibbert are amply documented.

Moreover, John Hibberdine, who was parachuted into Albania on the same night as Hibbert, kept a diary for most of his time in the field, in which the latter receives due mention - extracts appear in Roderick Bailey’s excellent history
The Wildest Province - S.O.E. in the Land of the Eagle. Thus mention of his first mission to join a fellow operative, Major Richard Riddell, near Dibra, a journey undertaken with local guides and wireless operators Bob Elvidge and Ray Goodier, both ex-S.A.S. - the whole working from an isolated cottage and ‘living in conditions of great secrecy’. Hibbert remained in the field until October 1944, on one occasion making a hasty exit from Dega with one of his wireless operators after the Germans moved in and burnt to death the village priest. In fact, as stated in the summary for Roderick Bailey’s history:

‘In 1943, small teams of elite British soldiers began parachuting into the mountains of Axis-occupied Albania. They were members of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, and their task was to find and arm bands of local guerillas and harass the Axis as best they could. None had been to Albania before, or knew what awaited them.

Trying to survive in extreme conditions and formidable terrain, these young Britons lived in constant danger of capture and death, and were plagued by illness, lice and frostbite. Casualties were appalling and most guerillas seemed keener to kill each other than fight the Italians and Germans.’

Having rejoined the 4th Hussars on his extraction from Albania, Hibbert went into action as a Troop Leader in Italy, and was mentioned in despatches (
London Gazette 23 May 1946) for his gallantry in January 1945 when, as cited in the unit’s war diary, his tank was hit and set on fire - ‘Lieutenant Hibbert put the fire out and was later evacuated suffering from wounds and slight burns.’

Wartime exploits aside, no better summary of Reginald Alfred Hibbert’s life and times may be quoted than his obituary notice in
The Daily Telegraph, which was published on 9 October 2002:

‘Sir Reginald Hibbert, who has died aged 80, was a dark horse in the contest for that most glittering prize in the Diplomatic Service, the embassy in Paris.

Nobody would have tipped Reg Hibbert for Paris in his early years in the service, and even when he had risen to be an assistant under-secretary in the Foreign Office in his early fifties, he seemed likely to end up with a slightly less prestigious appointment.



But having worked his way gradually almost to the top, at the last moment he had a bit of luck when the Foreign Office realised that the appointment of their preferred candidate for Paris would have deeply offended the French. So Hibbert went as Ambassador to France for the last three years of his career, from 1979 to 1982.

He did this difficult job most creditably at a far from easy moment - the first years of Margaret Thatcher's first administration - and he won the respect of both the British and French governments of the time.

Reginald Alfred Hibbert was born on February 21 1922, the son of Alfred Hibbert, of Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, and at Worcester College, Oxford, where he read History.

After Oxford, he was commissioned into the 4th Hussars (by then a tank regiment), whence he was recruited by S.O.E. in 1943 for service in Albania. He was dropped there by parachute and served as a liaison officer first with the "nationalists" and then with the Partisans.

After his Albanian adventure he joined his regiment in Italy in 1944 and served as a troop commander until his demobilisation. He then went back up to Oxford to read Modem Languages, before joining the Foreign Service.

Hibbert's early postings in the service were unremarkable. He was not picked out to be private secretary to a minister- then the traditional route to the heights -nor did he serve in any of the so-called "inner circle" posts.

In 1964 he volunteered to go to Ulan Bator (Mongolia) on promotion as charge d'affaires and spent the next two years living in two rooms of the city's only hotel. He followed this posting with a sabbatical year at Leeds University, and was then given his chance to shine in the important office of the Commissioner-General in South East Asia, where he first acted as Head of Chancery and then as political adviser to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East.

Hibbert's success in these jobs led to his first senior European posting, that of minister at the embassy in Bonn, under Nicholas Henderson. From there he went back to the Foreign Office as an assistant under-secretary under Alan Campbell, whom three years later he succeeded as deputy under-secretary and political director - the man at the Foreign Secretary's elbow.

This was when he established himself as somebody of the ability to be head of one of the major European embassies.

While political director he helped to establish a system for improving the co-ordination of foreign policy among the then nine members of the European Community. His advocacy of the British line was always well-judged and more often than not effective.

Hibbert had the reputation in mid-career of being something of a martinet. He was of military appearance and bearing (sometimes he was compared to Captain Mainwaring in Dad's  Army), and undoubtedly he was, in his middle and early senior ranks, a hard taskmaster. But he had an attractive personality as well as great ability, and in Paris he showed that over the years he had learned the value of urbanity in the exercise of his profession, as well as in the management of his staff.

He and his wife entertained well and maintained the high standard expected in the Paris embassy.

After retirement from the Diplomatic Service, Hibbert was appointed director of the Ditchley Foundation, where he spent five years.

This enabled him to take part in the discussion of international affairs in various bodies, and in such settings as Chatham House. His views were always well argued and presented, while often different from generally accepted opinion.

He continued to take a close interest in the Balkans, especially Albania. He also took on the chairmanship of the Anglo-French Society and managed to revive what had become a somewhat moribund institution. He could always be relied upon to give full value to whatever job he took on.

Hibbert's wartime service in Albania gave rise to a slightly absurd episode in 1951, when he was denounced by a naive but well-connected former brother officer as having been a Communist. The Foreign Office took the accusation seriously enough at the time to authorise Hibbert's interrogation by M.I.5, which very quickly cleared him.

But in spite of this, a number of further smears, based partly on ignorance and partly on the fact that Hibbert had been a liaison officer with the Communist-dominated Albanian Partisans, cropped up in various books about Albania in the 1970s and 1980s.

Hibbert took a tolerant view of these rumours, attributing them largely to the passions aroused retrospectively by the tense atmosphere of the period.

His own very well documented and admirably lucid account,
The Albanian National Liberation Struggle: the Bitter Victory, was published in 1991.

Considering the harm that might have been done to his career at an early stage, Hibbert's lack of resentment over the allegations made against him struck most of his friends as astonishing.

Latterly, Hibbert spent much of his time in Wales, his wife's country of origin, where the Hibberts made their home near Machynlleth. He contributed articles on Albania and other Balkan questions to various international journals. He also gave lectures and took part in numerous debates and discussions.

Reg Hibbert was a very straightforward man, of forceful personality, perhaps somewhat lacking in subtlety, but not without considerable charm.

He was appointed C.M.G. in 1966, K.C.M.G. in 1979 and G.C.M.G. in 1982. He was a Commandeur, the Legion d'Honneur, and in 1991 he was elected an honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.

He married, in 1949, Ann Pugh, a daughter of Sir Alun Pugh; they had two sons and a daughter. He died on October 5.’

Sold with two original War Office letters regarding the recipient’s M.I.D., dated 31 October 1947, together with copies of the recipient’s books,
Albania’s National Liberation Struggle - The Bitter Victory and Letters from Mongolia, written with his wife, Ann; and a copy of Albania - From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity, by Miranda Vickers and James Pettifer, this signed by the latter.