Auction Catalogue
Create new list‘Captain C. S. Emden, D.F.C., served under me for 8 months last year in the Balloon Section of the Royal Air Force. Prior to this he had been twice wounded with his Regiment and had lost a leg.
In the face of much opposition and in defiance of practically all precedent, he at length succeeded in being sent out to France again for service as an Observer with a Balloon Section.
In doing so he ran very considerably greater risks than any other Observer, since his wooden leg both tended to prevent his getting out of the Balloon quickly in his parachute when attacked by hostile aircraft and also exposed him to an almost certainty of serious injuries if faced to descend by parachute.
Under the circumstances, Captain Emden continued to carry out the most cool and excellent artillery reconnaissance - until it was almost inevitable, under the circumstances, that he was wounded for a third time through attack by a hostile aeroplane.
The singular devotion to duty displayed by Captain Emden earned for him, in a particular full degree, the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’
A Cranwell testimonial, written by Lieutenant-Colonel MacNeece, in July 1919, refers.
An exceptional Great War “Balloonatic’s” D.F.C. group of six awarded to Captain C. S. Emden, Royal Air Force, late Royal West Kent Regiment and Royal Flying Corps, who, having been twice wounded in the trenches - and had his left leg amputated - took to the air as a Kite Balloon Officer wearing an artificial “Thigh Limb”: while observing artillery fire at Harbonnieres in August 1918, his balloon was attacked by enemy aircraft and he was compelled to take to his parachute - a descent which resulted in a severe fracture to his right tibia
During the 1939-45 War, Emden worked in the Air Intelligence Department, initially being employed in the interpretation of air photographs but afterwards as head of ‘A13c’, a group of boffins fed “fodder” from Bletchley Park in order to carry out an in-depth study of the Luftwaffe and assess the enemy’s battle order in time for the Normandy landings: he was advanced to Squadron Leader, R.A.F.V.R. and mentioned in despatches
Distinguished Flying Cross, George G.V.R., unnamed as issued, in its John Pinches case of issue; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. C. S. Emden, R.W. Kent R.); B.W.M. and Victory Medals (Capt. C. S. Emden, R.A.F); Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak palm, together with a set of related Great War dress miniatures, generally good very fine (10) £3000-3500
D.F.C. London Gazette 3 June 1919.
Cecil Stuart Emden was born in West Ealing, London in December 1889, the son of His Honour Judge Alfred Emden and his wife Elizabeth Cowley Emden (nee Whitfield). Educated at King's School Canterbury and Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied law, Cecil joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. in December 1912 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, in September 1914.
To France - loss of left leg on the Somme - “Balloonatic” - severe injury to right leg - D.F.C.
Embarked with his battalion for France in July 1915, he was wounded in an unspecified action and, by the time of the Somme offensive in July 1916, was serving as a Temporary Captain and C.O. of ‘D’ Company. It was in this capacity that he was wounded in action at Trones Wood on 13 July, when a shell explosion resulted in the loss of his left foot. The leg turned gangrenous and had to be amputated above the knee.
In March 1917, the Essential Artificial Limb Company Limited sent Emden an invoice for £27 to cover the cost of a “Thigh Limb”; whether the War Office settled the account remains unknown. More certain is the fact that he was classified as ‘unfit for general service’ and received orders to proceed to the Records Office at Shrewsbury. Keen to gain a more active appointment, Emden requested that the appointment be reconsidered but the War Office begged to differ and he duly reported to Shrewsbury in June 1917. Shortly after his arrival, and having pursued his options further, Emden persuaded his C.O. to submit another request for more active employment:
‘I have to inform you that Captain Emden, Royal West Kent Regiment, reported for duty in this office 13.6.17. Captain Emden informs me that he is desirous of an appointment to the R.F.C. (Kite Balloon Section) and that he has been passed medically fit for that employment ... In view of the fact that Emden is yet untrained in record office work, I beg to forward and recommend his request for more active employment.’
Emden duly reported to the Balloon School at Roehampton in July 1917 and, on completion of his training, returned to France where he joined the 13th Balloon Company. On 27 August 1918, while observing artillery fire at Harbonnieres, his balloon was attacked by enemy aircraft and he had to make an emergency descent by parachute - a descent which resulted in a severe fracture of his right tibia. He was evacuated to hospital in Rouen and thence to Bryanston Hospital, where he was still recuperating at the War’s end.
Oxford - authority on British Constitutional Law
Called to the Bar in 1920, Emden became Fellow and Treasurer of Oriel College, Oxford in 1928, in which latter capacity he remained happily employed between the wars. He was an authority on British Constitutional Law and published a number of books, some of which remain standard references to this day - The Civil Servant in the Law and the Constitution (1923), and The People and the Constitution (1956) are still in print; he also published works on Samuel Pepys, Gilbert White, Sir Walter Raleigh, Joseph Warton and Shakespeare.
Boffins and “Fodder”
Emden’s happy sojourn at Oxford was rudely interrupted by the renewal of hostilities, when he was recalled to active duty as a Pilot Officer in the R.A.F.V.R. in 12 September 1939.
His first appointment was in H.Q. No.6 Group where he was engaged on code and cypher duties. On 30 October 1939 he was appointed to the Air Ministry’s Department of Intelligence for Interpretation of Air Photographs. Promoted to Flying Officer in September 1940, he was mentioned in despatches in September of the following year.
By early 1941 the Air Intelligence Branch had began an in-depth study of the Luftwaffe. Estimating the German battle order was the task given to a group known as AI3b. Emden was asked to head up a group of boffins in AI3c. Working in secret in a dingy strip-lighted room in Horseferry Road, he and his team worked continuously on the longer term problem of piecing together the whole organisational structure of the Luftwaffe, with emphasis being placed on the forthcoming invasion of Europe. Their “fodder”, as it became known, was the daily arrival of output from Bletchley Park. Emden arrived in mid-1941 and asked for 6 to 8 weeks to read through all the Ultra material from the start of the war. This was a mammoth task as the output from Bletchley, even in 1941, was colossal. Emden and his team of “boffins” continued their valuable work throughout the war, the findings of AI3b and AI3c - including such detail as German meteorological information - being passed to the High Command.
Emden, who was released from the R.A.F.V.R. in the rank of Squadron Leader in May 1945, died at Pound Cottage, Combe, Oxford in February 1980.
Sold with two Great War and two Second World War portrait photographs, together with a letter from the recipient’s wife regarding the sale of his medals at Sotheby’s for the benefit of the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund, dated 2 October 1981; and a large file of copied research.
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