Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A C.B.E. group of eight awarded to Brigadier E. S. B. Williams, 1st Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, wounded twice during the Great War and later commanding the 2nd Battalion in Palestine

The Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) 2nd type neck badge, suspension detached at the crown; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut., Rif. Brig.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaf (Capt.); General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps, Iraq, Palestine (Capt.); Defence & War Medals (Brig., R.B.); Legion of Honour, 5th class breast badge, silver and enamels, the last chipped in places, otherwise generally good very fine (8) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Rifle Brigade and Affiliated Regiments from the collection formed by Michael Haines.

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Edward Stephen Bruce Williams was born on 2 November 1892, and educated at Winchester. He was commissioned into The Rifle Brigade on 20 September 1911 and joined the 1st Battalion. He had a distinguished and varied career in the Great War, serving with the 1st Battalion in the B.E.F. in which the battalion formed part of 11th Brigade in the 4th Division. He was wounded in 1914 and served with the 5th (Reserve) Battalion on the Isle of Sheppey in 1915, until his posting later that year as Brigade Signal Officer to 88 Infantry Brigade in Gallipoli, one of very few riflemen to fight in that theatre of war. Staff appointments followed in Egypt and France. Williams was wounded again in 1917 and ended the war as Brigade Major, Scottish Horse Brigade, in Ireland.

He rejoined the 1st Battalion as Adjutant in 1919 and served in that capacity in Iraq in 1920, under the command of Brevet Colonel Alan Paley, C.M.G., D.S.O., where the Battalion took part in quelling the riots. After a variety of staff and regimental appointments Williams was sent to command the 2nd Battalion in India in 1938 and then took the battalion to Palestine where it formed part of the peacekeeping force. He relinquished command in 1940 on being promoted to command of a Brigade in the U.K., followed by staff appointments in Scotland in 1942, and East Africa from 1943 until he retired in 1946. He was gazetted C.B.E. in 1943.