Orders, Decorations and Medals

A good Great War M.C. group of nine awarded to Major S. C. Deed, Intelligence Corps, late 10th Hussars, who was decorated for his gallantry at the Hohenzollern Redoubt in February 1916, in addition to gaining a “mention” and appointment to the Order of the Nile for subsequent services under General Allenby

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. S. C. Deed, 10/Hrs.); British War and Victory Medals (Major S. C. Deed); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Egypt, Order of the Nile, 4th Class breast badge, by Lattes, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, the centre piece on this loose, otherwise good very fine (9)
£1800-2200

M.C. London Gazette 30 March 1916:

‘For conspicuous gallantry as Bombing Officer in the trenches. When the enemy suddenly and unexpectedly exploded a mine, he forestalled them and occupied the crater, and drove off the bombers. Later when the enemy had occupied the lip of the crater’ he led out his bombers again and turned them out.’

Stanley Clifford Deed was born in London in April 1881, a member of a well know Norfolk family, and was educated at Eastbourne College and Merton College, Oxford. Having served in the Berkshire Yeomanry from 1899 to 1902, but not having witnessed active service, he went out to farm in South Africa in 1903, where he remained for four years. Thence he travelled to Argentina, where he became manager of the chief estancia of the Santa Fe Development Company.

Returning to England shortly before the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he enlisted in the 2nd King Edward’s Horse, but was quickly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 10th Hussars and went to France in May 1915, where the regiment formed part of 8th Cavalry Brigade with the Royal Horse Guards and Essex Yeomanry. Towards the end of the same year, a dismounted battalion was formed comprising one Squadron from each regiment, Deed being appointed the unit’s Bombing Officer. It was in this capacity that he saw considerable action in the Hohenzollern Redoubt area of the Vermelles Sector in early 1916, winning his M.C. on 2 February 1916, when the enemy exploded a mine at 1815 hours that evening.

Having remained actively employed in France until August 1917, latterly as a Staff Captain in the 6th and 7th Cavalry Brigades, Deed was embarked for Egypt as a Liaison Officer to the New Zealand Mounted Brigade, 2nd Australian Division. According to a copy of a letter written by him, ‘I was with them all through the desert attack on the right of the line at Beersheba at the 3rd Battle of Gaza. We then crossed on to the left of the line and took Jaffa.’ In May 1918, Deed was appointed D.A.A.G. to 5th Cavalry Division, in which role he went ‘right through the big advance up to Aleppo and beyond ... and saw quite a lot of scrapping and that sort of thing.’ He was mentioned in despatches by Allenby (London Gazette 5 June 1919, refers) and was awarded the 4th Class of the Egyptian Order of the Nile (London Gazette 26 November 1919).

Placed on the Regular Reserve of Officers in 1920, Deed became a director of John S. Deed & Sons, leather manufacturers and importers, work that took him back and forth to Argentina between the wars. According to his obituary in The Times, ‘with his Argentine experience Deed became a notable polo player, just out of the international class ... he imported innumerable good Argentine ponies into England, one of the most notable being the Duke of Roxburghe’s ‘Brocade’.’

Commissioned in the Intelligence Corps soon after the renewal of hostilities, Deed served on home security duties before a brief appointment in the Naval Intelligence Department in Belfast. Appointed a Staff Captain (Q Ops.) in Eastern Command in late 1940, and from February 1941 in South-Eastern Command, he was posted to H.Q. 21 Army Group in the summer of 1943, and it was in this latter capacity that he served in North-West Europe from August 1944.

The Major, who was released from military service in August 1945, died at Newcastle upon Tyne in December 1969, when his Times obituarist described him ‘as a delightful companion with an enduring gift as a raconteur and with the acutest sense of kindly humour’; sold with a quantity of copied research, including the above quoted letter.