Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An O.B.E. group of eight awarded to Colonel H. C. L. Humphreys, Royal Corps of Signals, late Honourable Artillery Company and 17th London Regiment

The Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Military) 2nd type; 1914 Star, with clasp (847 Pte., H.A.C.) initials ‘C.L.H.’ on this; British War and Victory Medals (Capt.); 1939-45 Star; War Medal; Coronation 1937; Efficiency Decoration, Territorial, G.V.R., together with bronze medallion for the National Strike 1926, very fine or better (9) £350-400

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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O.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 11 July 1940.

Howard Cecil Lee Humphreys (known as Cecil Lee Howard-Humphreys) was born at Wembley, Middlesex, on 7 September 1893. He was educated at Burford Gramamr School and Westminster School, London, which he left in 1911 to join his father who was then conducting a consulting civil engineering practise in Westminster, London. At the outbreak of the War in 1914, Humphreys joined the H.A.C. as a Private and went to France on 18 September 1914. He returned to England after a few months on leave and became acutely ill with trench fever. On his recovery he was granted a commission in the 17th London Regiment, and again saw service in France and later in Salonika and Palestine. He was in France when the war ended and after being demobilised, rejoined his father’s practise, becoming a partner in 1925. He maintained his connection with the Territorial Army from 1919 onward, and soon after the outbreak of war in 1939 he found himself again in France; by this time he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the London Division, Royal Signals. He was fighting in Belgium, was evacuated from Dunkirk, and received the O.B.E. for ‘distinguished services in the field.’ On his return to England he was appointed Chief Signal Officer to the 3rd Corps, and late in 1940 became Director of Works at the Ministry of Works and Buildings. His health unfortunately began to fail and he died on 18 July 1941.

The group is sold with a good quantity of original material including: a fine portrait photograph, two small photograph albums and other photographs; Warrant for the O.B.E.; certificate of the Ypres League (Lt. Col. C. L. Howard-Humphreys, 1st Honourable Artillery Company); Typescript Diary of the 2nd Corps Signals B.E.F., France 1940; various letters, documents and obituary notices.