Orders, Decorations and Medals

The important M.V.O. group of four awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel Rt. Hon. Sir A.W. de B.S. Foljambe, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.B.E., M.V.O., KJ. St. J., late Rifle Brigade, the first Governor-General of the Dominion of New Zealand

ROYAL VICTORIAN ORDER, M.V.O., 4th class breast badge, reverse unnumbered; QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State,S.A. 1902 (Capt. Hon., M.V.O., Rifle Bde.) the clasps contemporary tailor's copies; CORONATION 1911; JUBILEE 1935;good very fine (4)

Arthur William de Brito Savile Foljambe was born on 27 May 1870, eldest son of the Earl of Liverpool. He was educated at Eton and R.M.C. Sandhurst, being gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade in May 1891. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1893 and Captain in 1897 when his battalion, 4th Rifle Brigade moved to Dublin. There he served from 1898-1900 as A.D.C. to Earl Cadogan, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which post led him ultimately to a career of civil service. In 1900 he was appointed a Member (4th class) of the Royal Victorian Order. From 1900-1901, he was Staff Captain of the Dublin District but when his regiment left for South Africa and the Boer War, he accompanied it and served there for two years. He returned home with the Rifle Brigade but was put on half-pay when he was appointed State Steward to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1906-08. He was promoted Major in 1907, in which year his father died and he assumed the title of 2nd Earl of Liverpool. In 1909, he became Comptroller of His Majesty's Household, which post he held until 1912. During this period he also became Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 8th Battalion, The London Regiment (Post Office Rifles). He held this post also until 1912 when he was sent to New Zealand as Governor and Commander-in-Chief. This post he held until 1917, having been made G.C.M.G. in 1914. Continuing his interest in matters military while in New Zealand, he raised and organised the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in 1915, but was forbidden permission to accompany it into combat. He was not only Hon. Colonel of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade but also of the 11th Regiment (Taranaki) New Zealand Rifles. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1917 and also became that year the first Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Dominion of New Zealand. He held this post until 1920 when he retired and was made G.C.B., having been made G.B.E. two years earlier. He was also a Knight of Justice of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He died on 15 May 1941 and was succeeded by his brother, Hon. G.W.F.S. Foljambe (see Lot 281)