Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Great War M.C. group of five awarded to Acting Lieutenant-Colonel R. P. Varwell, Royal Irish Rifles

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut. R. P. Varwell, R. Ir. Rif.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. R. P. Varwell); French Croix de Guerre 1914-1918, with bronze palm, mounted court-style as worn, together with a tunic riband bar, generally good very fine (5) £1200-1400

M.C. London Gazette 4 June 1917.

Ralph Peter Varwell arrived in France on 14 August 1914, as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, and quickly saw action in the fighting at Caudry on the 26th, when the Battalion suffered the loss of 60 other ranks, in addition to five officers and 29 other ranks being wounded. More serious casualties were sustained in subsequent operations on the Aisne during 14-22 September, and at Neuve Chapelle in mid-October, the unit’s war diary noting it was ‘practically without officers’ and down to less than 200 men. Varwell was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 22 June 1915, refers).

Appointed a Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quarter-Master General in February 1916, he was awarded the M.C. in June 1917 and ended the War as an Acting Lieutenant-Colonel on the Adjutant General’s and Quarter-Master General’s Staff. He was also awarded a second “mention” (London Gazette 20 December 1918, refers), and the French Croix de Guerre (London Gazette 20 November 1919, refers); sold with copied research.