Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

The mounted group of twenty miniature dress medals attributed to Colonel Sir James Lewis Sleeman, C.B., C.M.G., C.B.E., M.V.O., T.D., City of London Imperial Volunteers, Order of the Bath, Civil Division, silver-gilt; Order of St. Michael and St. George, silver-gilt and enamel; Order of the British Empire, 1st type, Military Division, silver-gilt and enamel; Royal Victorian Order, silver-gilt and enamel; Order of St. John, silver and enamel; Queen’s South Africa, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal; King’s South Africa, 2 clasps; 1914-15 Star; British War and Victory Medals; General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps (slip-on), Palestine, Malaya; Defence and War Medals; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., ‘Territorial’, 3 G.VI.R. bars; Special Constabulary Long Service, G.V.R. ‘Crowned bust’, 2 bars, Long Service 1939 and 1941; St. John Service, silver, 2 bars, with silver laurel-leaf emblem on ribbon; League of Mercy, silver-gilt and enamel, with bar; Japan, Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th Class, silver-gilt and enamel, rosette on ribbon, mounted Court-style as worn, contained in case, slight enamel damage, very fine and better (20) £180-220

Colonel Sir James Lewis Sleeman was born in 1880, the grandson of Major-General Sir William Sleeman, K.C.B., suppressor of the Thuggee in India. He entered the army in 1899, serving with the C.I.V. in the Boer War. In the Great War he served in France and Flanders and was on the Imperial General Staff, Director of Military Training and attache to the Japanese Fleet on war service during 1916-18. For his services he was twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the C.B.E. in 1919. After the War he held the post of Chief of Staff of New Zealand Forces, 1919-21 and took part in numerous tours of inspection around the Empire; attaining the rank of Colonel in 1930 and being awarded the M.V.O. in 1920, C.M.G. in 1921 and C.B. in 1936. An author on several works on military training and the suppression of the Thugs, he died in 1963.